Wellington North Mayor Ray Tout declined to comment directly on how the township will handle recovering any of the $229,000 it refunded to building contractors.
Resident Jens Dam, who has twice won Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) rulings against the township and its efforts to bring in new development charge bylaws, met with council at its July 15 meeting to inquire about the outstanding money.
Dam has continually questioned council on the $229,000 in refunds and rebates given to contractors. The township resident has contended the refunds were given based on council’s intention to make its development charge bylaws retroactive, allowing for the rebates.
“After bylaw 44-11 (amendment to development bylaw) was passed June 6, 2011, I filed with the clerk of Wellington North an objection to the OMB on June 21, 2011, which legally prevented the township from carrying out the bylaw until such time as the OMB gave its permission,” Dam said in statement.
“The OMB repealed that bylaw. Despite that, contrary to the Development Charges Act, the [township] on or about August 4, 2011 sent out refunds totaling $80,691, citing bylaw 44-11 as authority. Council’s response was to make the next amendment to the development charge bylaw 52-08 retroactive to try to cover up for that misdeed, and again the OMB disallowed any retroactivity in the bylaw.”
“As we later learned, the [township], continued to give unlawful discounts on the development charges before that amendment came into effect on May 28, 2012, for a total of about $229,000 missing from the Development Charges Reserve Fund, according to Development Charges Schedules 52-08.”
Dam eventually received the full account of rebates and refunds after filling a freedom of information request. Each time Dam has inquired about the shortfall, he has been told council could not comment until refunds had been reviewed by a lawyer.
“Council has a legal responsibility to see to it that taxpayers’ money is not unlawfully or fraudulently used, and if so, has a legal responsibility to recover taxpayers’ money expediently,” Dam said.
Tout said council did discover difficulties in bringing in a new development charge bylaw with lower rates to contractors.
Council recently approved its latest installment of development charges that put fees on single family homes down from the previous $21,000 to $14,672 by Jan. 1 next year before going up to $15,344 by Jan. 1 the following year.
The lower charge was among the issues raised in the last municipal election, during which several councillors, including Tout, campaigned for change.
“This council has come in to change things which hasn’t happened prior to,” Tout said.
He said the municipal finances were “three years behind,” when the new council took over and grant applications for provincial operational grants were also delayed. According to Tout that has changed.
Tout told Dam on Monday the refund issue is now in “arbitration” and he would not release details about it.
Tout defended township staff and found through his own “personal investigation” that one official had “refused to sign” an application about refunds.
“It is under investigation and we will go further,” the mayor said. “Are we sitting on our laurels? Absolutely not, I just can’t tell you now.”
Tout also declined comment on steps to retrieve the money when speaking with reporters after the meeting.
“It’s mixed in with another process,” he said. Tout said he hopes the matter will be resolved in the near future.
