Wellington North and Minto will see a larger-than-average increase in their portions of the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority levy in 2018.
Wayne Brohman, general manager of Saugeen Conservation, presented the authority’s $3.5-million budget to Wellington North council on Dec. 4.
The budget includes a levy increase of $3,531 (6%) for Wellington North and a $1,999 (4.9%) increase for Minto.
Brohman explained that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) provided the conservation authority with a spreadsheet of the current value assessment of each of the 15 municipalities in the watershed.
“We take that information and we do our levy calculation and if the current value assessment in a particular municipality increases at a faster rate than the average for the entire watershed, then that municipality will have a higher increase in their levy,” he said.
The watershed, which includes 15 other municipalities such as Saugeen Shores, West Grey, Brockton, Kincardine and Hanover, had a 1.36% current value assessment increase.
In Wellington North, the current value assessment increased by 5.9% and in Minto it increased by 4.8%.
“Our total levy increase was 1.5%, so nine municipalities will see an increase above that,” said Brohman.
“The levy increase of 1.5% means, in dollar terms, $24,000 spread across the entire watershed.”
Councillor Steve McCabe said, “$24,000 across the watershed is extremely lean.”
The proposed budget includes $1.7 million raised through the municipal levy and $17,000 for capital projects in water management.
The salary grid increase accounts for $20,000 in the general levy increase, states Brohman’s report. There are also expected to be staffing changes in 2018, including an additional part-time regulations officer and the retirement of the senior manager of flood warning and land management and manager of forestry.
The conservation authority will also receive $159,902 in funding from the MNRF.
“That has been absolutely, to the penny, the same amount we’ve gotten every year for the last 16 years,” said Brohman. “So while they send us nice letters saying how they value our partnership, they don’t seem to back it up with increased funding.”
Wellington North, 33% of which lies in the watershed, will see its general levy increase from $58,566 to $62,097.
Minto, 36% of which is in the watershed, will see its general levy increase from $40,597 to $42,596.
Councillor Dan Yake asked why two municipalities (Kincardine and Saugeen Shores) have a decrease in the levy for 2018.
“Because their current value assessment dropped … so much from the average that their share of the levy decreases,” said Brohman.
Yake said when the watershed covers 100% of that municipality “it doesn’t seem fair.”
Brohman said the conservation authority receives its numbers from MPAC and he would not be surprised if it changed drastically in 2019.
Wellington North CAO Mike Gives added that with growth in the municipality, there is an impact of the conservation authorities. He said seeing values decline in the lake-front areas is “pretty surprising.”
The authority’s board of directors is to vote on the budget on Dec. 19.
