The township’s demographics skew a lot younger than popular perception according to a consultant’s annual review of Ontario municipalities.
Since 2000, BMA Management Consultants Inc., an independent consulting firm, has undertaken an annual comparative study on behalf of participating Ontario municipalities.
In 2015, Wellington County was among the participants, with all lower tier municipalities providing data in various categories. The review looks at both financial and operational aspects of municipal operations in a number of categories. Municipal Study – 2015 includes statistics related to population growth, tax rates and assessment, development charges and other selected indicators.
“This study allows us to evaluate the township’s financial condition and its position relative to neighbouring municipalities and other Ontario municipalities,’ stated a staff report from CAO Brad McRoberts and treasurer Yufang Du at the Dec. 22 meeting.
Councillor Marlene Ottens commented she found local age demographics among the most striking statistics in the 542-page document.
Ottens noted the data indicates Mapleton has the highest percentage of residents 19 or under of the 104 municipalities included in this year’s survey. The data shows 37 per cent of Mapleton residents are 19 or under, 54% are 20 to 64 and 9% are seniors.
Of the other Wellington County municipalities listed in the results under this category, most had either 25 or 26% of their population in the 19-and-under demographic, except for Puslinch, which had 21%.
Puslinch and Wellington North had the highest rate of senior-age residents, at 19%, while Minto was next at 18%, Centre Wellington at 17%, and Erin at 12%.
“I think we think of ourselves as having a lot of seniors, but our seniors rate was one of the lowest. We only have nine per cent seniors,” Ottens noted.
She also pointed out Mapleton is among the most sparsely-populated municipalities in the study.
“We only have 19 people per square kilometre and over a third of them are kids. That’s not a lot of people,” said Ottens.
By comparison, Centre Wellington has 68 residents per square kilometre, Guelph-Eramosa 44, Erin 41, Puslinch 35, Minto 28 and Wellington North 23.
“We have a younger population,” agreed Mayor Neil Driscoll, a reality he said highlights the township’s difficulty in raising tax dollars to cover needed services.
“We may have to start taxing tree houses,” he commented.
McRoberts noted the review contains considerable information that “relates to some of the issues we’re dealing with.” He said staff would provide a report containing highlights and analysis at a future council meeting.
