Some Guelph-Eramosa residents may not be paying their taxes this year, according to one township resident.
“I have to pay my hydro bill, and I have to pay my water bill or the other essentials,” said Jim Machen at a Feb. 18 public budget meeting at the municipal office.
“But I can fool around with the Township of (Guelph-)Eramosa for years before you guys come to take my home and that’s what I plan to do and … I’ve got two others on my line that are planning to do the same thing.”
Machen, who said he is on a fixed income, told council this will be the first year he won’t be able to pay his taxes.
Guelph-Eramosa is proposing a 5.64 per cent increase in the municipal tax levy (money raised through taxes). This year the levy is just over $6 million, up $320,891 from last year’s $5.7 million.
For every $100,000 of property assessment, taxpayers can expect:
– a 6.33%, or $16.55 increase in local municipal taxes, including a 4.35% general tax increase and 1.98% for a new dedicated infrastructure levy;
– a 2.5% or $15.73, increase in Wellington County taxes;
– no increase in education taxes; and
– an overall tax bill increase of about 3%, or $32.28, when county and education taxes are included.
On Feb. 18 council held a public budget meeting so citizens could share their opinions of the proposed budget.
Fixed incomes
Machen said his taxes normally come out of his bank via automatic withdrawal, but this year he and his wife are going to put a stop to that.
“We’ve been married 45 years, lived here our whole lives,” he said. “This will be the first year ever that we will go into arrears in our taxes.”
Machen said he is on disability and cannot work anymore.
However, he said, the only programs available to help with tax payments are at the provincial level and are for people over the age of 65.
“Am I less of a person while still being disabled because I’m not 65?” he asked. “Do I not get the help from this government? After paying my taxes for many years … now I’m on the threshold of either selling or losing my home.”
Mayor Chris White said he had no control over provincial programs.
“Then maybe we need to contact whoever those people are and get it changed because I can’t do it, I’m asking you to do it,” Machen said.
White said he’d be willing to work with Machen and take the issue to the provincial government and bring up the possibility of age discrimination in tax-relief programs.
Salaries
Resident Patricia Spedaler voiced concern about roughly $4 million attributed to municipal employee salaries and benefits.
“That’s an awful lot, it’s like you’re collecting taxes just to pay people and our taxes aren’t helping to build and support the township,” Spedaler said.
“You’re having to … (say) ‘please give us a grant, please do this and give us gas tax money,’ because we people as residents aren’t supporting you in the right way.”
Though the total budget is about $21 million and not all the salaries and wage funds are coming from collected taxes, Spedaler said she is concerned, “we’re just paying for people to work and we’re not doing anything.”
She asked that the township look for innovative solutions to reduce labour costs.
“You know what, frankly, the bottom line in this is at the end of the day we need more of that federal/provincial money because a lot of the staffing we have, I’d say the vast majority, are mandated,” White said. “We’ve got several people in water now after Walkerton, there’s no options there, you’ve got to hire those people.
“We’re labour intense. We plow, we ditch, we tree, we provide services so you’re going to have a high payroll because you’ve got high labour.”
White said what’s needed is more money from other levels of government.
“When we’re bringing in ($)6 million and trying to run everything you’re mandated to do you can’t get there from here,” he said.
“We need the province to step up and provide sustainable, consistent funding to give us a bigger share of that dollar.”
As it stands municipalities receive 9 cents for every dollar collected in municipal, provincial and federal taxes, according to the budget presentation. In turn, the provincial government receives 44 cents and the federal government receives 47 cents.
Operating efficiencies
Resident Terry Daynard asked whether operating efficiencies had been explored, meaning doing the same things as last year but at a fraction of the cost.
He said in his budget experiences department heads are asked to cut their budget by 5% at the beginning of discussions and then can consider what was removed throughout the process.
“In many cases that’s where new money comes from, new initiatives, but it’s assumed that somehow you should be able to find efficiencies to do things better, do things more effectively,” Daynard said.
Director of finance Linda Cheyne said the township is looking at increasing efficiencies – for bylaw enforcement, as an example.
“We have a need for it … we have substantial calls,” she said. “Instead of just hiring someone full time strictly for us, we’re sharing the service with another municipality, so we can enhance the service but we’re looking for other ways to fund it.”
Parks and recreation
Resident Barb Bonner agreed the municipality should take another look at the budget.
“I think each of the departments have to take a real sharp pencil and take a look at really what they have to do and what they really (don’t),” Bonner said.
She said it’s the parks and recreation department that has her concerned, with $946,113 in operating costs and $1.25 million in capital expenditures.
“There is no way parks and rec needs that kind of money when you need the money for other things and you can then … hopefully maybe lower the tax percentage that you want to charge,” she said.
Bonner said the floor of the Rockmosa Community Centre does not need to be redone yet $22,000 is budgeted to replace the floor this year.
“We’ve got to find someone that can maintain it and when you hire somebody to do it make sure they do their job,” she said.
She also asked the township to take its time in the development of the 21-acre Rockmosa Park.
“You haven’t got the money,” she said. She asked that the money be put where it really needs to be to get the taxes under control.
The $1.1 million proposed to be spent on Rockmosa Park development this year (for detail design, site services, grading, parking, fencing, trail work and skatepark) is coming out of reserves, development charges, grants and fundraisers.
No funds are being raised through taxation for this phase.
Fire department
Darryl Nichol spoke to council about cost saving possibilities with a focus on the fire department.
“Why do we need a plow sitting down at the fire hall when the first job of the roads department should be to clear all emergency facilities out, all municipal facilities out, all roads out and then get the back streets,” he said. ”These are things that can cut down on money.”
He said there are people in the community, himself included, who are not happy with the way the fire hall is being run.
“They’ve got equipment up there they can’t handle, they can’t drive, they can’t work with; they practice day and night at $20 an hour,” Nichol said.
He said the sense of volunteerism is missing now in the community.
Council will be holding a special meeting of council on Feb. 29 at 7pm in the council chamber in Brucedale to consider passing the 2016 budget.
