Ladies and Gentlemen
Our first 2017 budget meeting is behind us and the first draft municipal
tax rate shows an increase of 3.1%. If Council accepted this draft, then the
all in tax rate increase, combining County and school amounts, would likely be
in the range of 2.5%. More budget work ahead.
It’s March break week.
A quieter week for the Town even though I expect to see more young folks
in the downtown. Enjoy.
The
Week Ahead
Monday March 13th features the Daffodil
flag raising for the Canadian Cancer Society at Town Hall at 1:00 pm.
On Tuesday the 14th it’s likely to be a
long County Council meeting in Midhurst starting at 9:00 am. The meeting will
review Midland’s OPA Number 9 concerning Second Units in our Town.
On Wednesday I meet with Bruce Stanton MP to
discuss federal government support for our King Street Redevelopment project.
Week -
End
Saturday March 18
-
8:00 pm Leahy-The Next Generation will
entertain you with Celtic fiddle music by six incredibly talented youngsters at
the MCC
Sunday March 19
-
Southern Georgian Bay Farmers Market is at
the Huronia Museum starting at 9:00 am, every Sunday during the winter months
-
Brookside brings you Scaramella, a
celebration of Baroque music at the MCC at 2:00 pm
.
Council
Issues Update
Budget
The
first budge meeting heard from all municipal Boards and commissions, including
the Midland police and our library. It also reviewed the operating budget for
all Town departments.
The
marathon 8 hour meeting was especially challenging this year as our Treasurer
introduced a new budget format and methodology.
A fair bit of time was spent considering how the new representation of
the budget figures related to the expenditures from previous years. The purpose
of changing the format was to improve transparency – to let Council and the
public have a better understanding of service delivery costs. For example, we
were shown for the first time that the cost of staff time to support our 39
Town committees was in excess of $400,000.
So
the bottom line for the first draft shows a municipal year over year tax
increase at 3.1 %. Our next budget meeting takes place on March 22nd
at 3:30 pm.
*****
A calendar reminder that the second annual Mac &
Cheese dinner in support of the We Are the Villagers children’s charity takes
place on April 3rd at Lot 102 - three dinner sittings of 4:30, 5:45
and 7:00 pm.
Gord McKay
The
Year for Getting It Done - 2017
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