BRUCEDALE – Consultant KPMG is providing an overview to municipal councils of a $350,000 review that will identify more efficient ways to deliver services to residents of Wellington County.
The review is funded by a portion of the provincial “modernization” grant to municipalities, intended to help them prepare for a major funding cutback that will impact 2020 budgets.
“We want to find creative and realistic solutions,” said KPMG’s Bruce Peever, the project director.
“Given the [provincial] review of the regions and two counties, it is important to address the provincial expectation of reviewing systems to find cost saving efficiencies.”
The review officially started on July 12, with an interim report to all councils planned for Oct. 30 and all elements except the final report delivered by Nov. 29 – in time for preparation of 2020 municipal budgets.
The review is being funded with $175,000 from the county and $25,000 from each member municipality.
There will be consultation on all aspects of municipal service delivery, spending, revenue streams and benchmarking with outside municipalities.
The review will identify “opportunities for sustainable approaches” to delivering services and changing levels of service.
It will provide advice on implementation, “balancing stakeholder expectations” and the risks that should be considered.
“It’s the ambiguity of what’s happening to our budgets in the fall – we’re kind of like a deer in the headlights,” said Guelph-Eramosa Mayor Chris White, after Peever made a presentation to Guelph-Eramosa council on Sept. 16.
The Town of Erin was to receive a presentation Sept. 17 and Puslinch Township on Sept. 18. KPMG has already made similar presentations in Centre Wellington, Minto, Mapleton and Wellington North.
White said he has spoken to Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, about the review and proposed cuts.
“They’re very significant – 10 to 15 per cent of overall taxes,” said White. “I said, ‘the big fear we have out here, while this is absolutely a worthwhile exercise, is what’s going to happen in the fall when you start playing with our budgets?’
“He indicated that a lot of folks are actually taking a chunk of the money [from the modernization grant] and putting it into a reserve, because it’s almost a buffer to get through fairly significant budget cuts.”
Wellington County received $725,000 through the modernization grant, while Centre Wellington got $618,175, Wellington North $618,175, Guelph-Eramosa $613,775, Erin $602,673, Minto $591,214, Mapleton $581,800 and Puslinch $569,599.
Erin is spending almost $200,000 – about one third of its provincial modernization and efficiency grant – on a series of its own studies designed to improve
