Distressing that developers can sidestep attaching to the municipal systems
To the Expositor:
I read with some interest your extensive article on the resignation of former Councillor Jim Cahill from Billings council and his stated reasons for his resignation and I must say I was more than a little bewildered (‘Billings councillor quits; council asks integrity commissioner to probe alleged violations of his oath of office,’ December 28, 2023, Page 1).
This council has been in place for over a year. New councillors are provided training courses for what can be a challenging few weeks for them to have a clear grasp of their duties and how the municipality runs.
Those who are not Haweaters should have seen the municipal cycle running in the communities they came from. Other Manitoulin municipalities, on the whole, are run in much the same way.
General taxes collected are not necessarily spent within the municipality. School taxes, police, district service board etc. are simply passed through and municipal councils have only limited control over the details of how they are spent.
Mr. Cahill’s main concern seems to have been with the water tax and how it is collected and disbursed (I think that’s what his concern was – it wasn’t totally clear in The Expositor story).
I’m not sure where Mr. Cahill lived before moving to Billings, but unless it was a community smaller than Billings it probably had a water filtration plant and maybe even a waste water treatment facility (sewage works) and those were funded through a water tax – distinct from the general property tax and which was collected and administered separately.
I can recall leading a very large project for a large municipality during the run up to Y2K. The very powerful treasurer was desperately looking for funds to pay for General Y2K related project costs and word came down that she was contemplating tapping the water/waste water operational, maintenance and new projects fund (which was quite healthy at the time because it also had funds earmarked for some capital projects)
The two general managers involved both hit the roof and pointed out in no uncertain terms that this fund was segregated and could only be spent on operations, maintenance and new capital project work within the water/waste water services area.
All in all, over the 19 years Suzanne and I have lived in Kagawong, the Billings municipal financial administration has matured to a double entry book keeping system recommended by auditors and eventually imposed by the province of Ontario. That’s not to say things are perfect!
When it comes to the water filtration and distribution system, I’d like to see a bylaw whereby developers are required to connect with the water distribution system when it is in reasonable reach of their proposed land development.
I can recall attending one council meeting when a developer presented his 20+ unit development and the mayor of the day asked “of course you’ll connect with our water filtration/distribution system?” The developer replied “No, I can do it cheaper myself!” My mouth dropped. Here was an opportunity to amortize 20+ additional users on to the water tax base on a water filtration plant which (if I’m reading the numbers correctly), is operating at not much over 50 percent capacity! Well, I hope that loophole has now been rectified or will be soon!
Paul Darlaston Kagawong
