ABERFOYLE – Some Puslinch councillors took issue with some aspects of a 2018 Municipal Study comparing municipalities in Wellington County with others in the province.
On Dec. 19, Puslinch reviewed the executive study on Wellington County factors including: socio-economic, financial, revenue/expenditure analysis, select user fees & revenue information, tax policies, comparison of relative taxes, comparison of water/sewer costs, average municipal burden as a percentage of income, and economic development.
Councillor John Sepulis took issue with some of the numbers. He said there were a number of “really rich big homes in the township and if those were taken out of the equation, the numbers would change considerably.”
Councillor Matthew Bulmer agreed the socio-economic numbers were very skewed, placing the township near the top of the list in many categories.
“While we are strong on certain socio-enomic numbers, other portions of the report really highlight the need to get our asset management plans dealt with – to help get us on top of this.”
He added it was only a few years ago, councillors were told of the township’s $9-million infrastructure deficit.
Bulmer added that higher property values in Puslinch has led to the municipalitiy paying a higher proportion of county taxes.
“If county taxes were assigned equally across Wellington, I believe our taxes would come down.”
In general, Bulmer said “As interesting as these numbers are, it leaves me scratching my head as to whether we are doing better or worse than other municipalities.”
