Wellington County Warden Joanne Ross-Zuj was ecstatic on Tuesday afternoon, just minutes after learning the county has won its lengthy dispute over social services billing through an arbitration process.
Guelph was seeking to overturn the current funding formula for the joint social services costs the two municipalities had been responsible for paying.
City officials wanted to have property assessment values as the determining factor for cost sharing. A win by Guelph would have meant a 7% tax increase in the county to make up the $4-million shortfall.
In the past, city and county councillors alternated as chairman of a joint social services committee, which operates under a user pay agreement. That means since the majority of social services were used in Guelph, the city paid the lion’s share of the costs.
Many things have now changed. Guelph council last night voted to create its own social services committee. No one at the county is sure that is legal, and county officials are currently looking into it.
County Warden Joanne Ross-Zuj said prior to the arbitration hearing that the issue was simple for her.
“We pay for what we use. That’s the way we’ve been doing business for the past 40 years,” she said.
Social services include such things as Ontario Works, social housing, welfare and numerous other services. Ross-Zuj estimated that Guelph pays about 80% of the total costs compared to the county’s 20%.
Guelph officials, though, asked that each municipality pay its costs determined by property assessment, which would result in a 60:40 division of costs – and a huge increase for the county.
Ross-Zuj and the county argued against that position at the arbitration hearing – which Guelph forced – explaining the model of rural citizens gravitating to the cities in tough times has not been valid since the 1800s, and people today want and expect services in their own communities.
She wondered why someone from Mount Forest, for example, would want to go to Guelph for assistance.
Plus, she noted, Guelph has a very high ratio of commercial and industrial assessment to residential, giving the city access to much higher taxes on the commercial and industrial assessment than the county has.
Further, while farms might be assessed at a high value in Wellington County, farmers pay only 25% of that assessment as property taxes. The city has none paying at 25%.
The county argued Guelph’s position was unfair – and the arbitrator agreed.
Ross-Zuj said the 37 page decision will mean status quo for the county taxpayers.
The battles between the city and county are far from over, though.
The county recently launched a $4-million law suit against the city, claiming that it has not paid its fair share of Wellington Terrace seniors’ home bills for several years.
The city has paid the county $166,000 in 2006, 2007 and 2008, but the county charges that contribution was short about $800,000 in those years.
County social services chairman Gord Tosh said in an interview the county was forced to go to court because if it accepts the lesser payment for too long, it cannot claim what it believes it is owed.
“That’s just contract law,” Tosh said.
City officials were called and emailed several times for a response to several issued between the city and county. There was no reply from any officials.
