NORTHEAST TOWN—After weeks of deliberations and a public meeting, council for the Town of Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands passed its 2023 budget with a 6.8 percent increase to the levy (the amount needed to maintain current service levels in the municipality). This translates into a tax increase in each of the wards as follows: Ward 1, 3.61 percent; Ward 2, 4.47 percent; and Wards 3 and 4, 4.88 percent each.
Council began looking at the draft budget for 2023 in November 2022, slightly later than usual due to the municipal election. During the onset of budget deliberations, CAO Dave Williamson informed council that $349,191 more was required for the operating budget in 2023 over 2022, which translated into a 7.2 percent increase to the amount needed to operate the municipality at current standards. Council was able to pare that down slightly to 6.8 percent.
Zak Nicholls of Little Current raised some cost-savings suggestions to council during the public budget meeting. He called on council to remove all line-item donations in the budget for Haweater Weekend, Manitoulin Country Fest, Rockin’ the Rock and Manitoulin Streams. Mr. Nicholls pointed to the $10,000 awarded each year through the McLean’s Mountain Wind Farm Project to charitable organizations and suggested that become the municipality’s donations budget. (That money is awarded annually through an application process with candidates chosen through a committee of ratepayers and council members.)
He also called on council to create a designated off-leash dog park and for council to tighten up its meeting schedule. He determined that by cutting the number of meetings by half, joining committee of the whole meeting with council meetings, would result in savings of $20,000 annually, or $80,000 per term.
Mr. Nicholls also suggested council consider eliminatting the $7,500 annual physician recruitment fee, questioning if it is actually successful.
Council discussed Mr. Nicholls’ suggestions at length with the donations budget suggestion not finding any favour with the council, who noted the important works of the organizations they support in this manner. Councillor Laurie Cook was the only member of council who thought Mr. Nicholls’ suggestions of eliminating meetings had merit.
When the question was called, as has been the case for many years, Councillor Bill Koehler was the sole dissenting vote on the 2023 budget. The budget motion was carried.
Projects included in the 2023 capital budget include: municipal office: computer server replacement and heating upgrades; roads: Rockville Road grade raise, Red Lodge Road grade raise and surface treatment on Green Bay Road, Sydenham Street/Bay Village Road, Ironside Road and four kilometres of Rockville Road; downtown Little Current lighting upgrades, a new sand dome in Sheguiandah, a tandem snow plow (for 2024 budget due to high delay in orders); 1/2 ton truck replacement for public works, library flooring and boiler replacement.
Other items in the budget include a Low Island service building (pending funding), a rec centre canteen upgrade/renovation, McLean’s Mountain washrooms, the Sheguiandah government dock washroom (funded from budget 2022), Low Island pump track (funded from budget 2022), Andrew Ferguson museum building repairs, Sheguiandah archaeological site visitor enhancement, repairing the Rockville boat launch ramp, marina parking lot upgrades, work on Pier 6 at Spider Bay marina and paving the fire hall driveway.
The total for 2023 capital projects is $2,820,711 of which $1,326,643 is slated to come from grants, $1,241,368 to come from reserve funds and $90,000 from ‘other.’ The total anticipated net cost to the town is $162,700.
