Saugeen Shores Council has given it’s opinion on the proposed budget for the Saugeen Conservation Authority, and the sizeable municipal levy increase that could come with it.
The is proposing an increase to increase this year’s budget by just under two percent, but that will mean an eight percent levy increase to member municipalities.
Deputy Mayor Doug Freiburger, who also serves as Saugeen Conservation Board Chair says the authority doesn’t have many other options when it comes to seeking funding because the province refuses to increase its assistance to conservation authorities.
The proposed budget estimates the province will fund less than ten percent of the authorities activities in 2009.
Mayor Mike Smith says he would never accept an eight percent budget increase from a municipal department and wants Freiburger to go to the Saugeen Conservation Board and try to bring it in line to the two or three percent range.
Saugeen Shores could find itself paying nearly 22 thousand dollars more to the authority than it did last year, for a total of over 252 thousand dollars–the largest contribution of any member municipality.
Freiburger says Saugeen Shores is paying more because it’s the fastest growing municipality in the watershed area which unfortunately means it will pick up a larger share of the conservation levy because of its growing tax base.
Freiburger says Kincardine’s proposed increase is just under nine thousand dollars because the value of the Bruce Power site was reassessed to a much lower value.
Councillor Luke Charbonneau, who also sits on the Board of Directors says while there are many local municipal leaders who want an increase of no more than three percent, they still cannot come up with any suggestions on what could be done to achieve that figure.
Saugeen Conservation wants to use revenues from the municipal levy to cover costs associated with a recent staff compensation review and 12 thousand dollars in capital spending.
Councillor Thead (tee’d) Seaman has difficulties with the budget. He says Saugeen Conservation needs to increase its efforts to cut costs and should consider becoming part of or sharing staff with one of the county governments, or merge with the Grey-Sauble Conservation Authority.
Freiburger says Conservation Ontario, the umbrella organization for conservation authorities, is considering its next move to get the province to increase funding. It was sharply cut in the mid 1990’s and has not increased since.
An informal motion was made on the budget. It received an unofficial endorsement from council, with Mayor Smith, Councillor Seaman, and Councillor Diane Huber voting in opposition.
Smith says an official decision will be made on the Saugeen Conservation budget during the upcoming municipal budget process, but the ultimate decision rests with the authority’s board of directors.
