The Saugeen Times

Kincardine whittles budget to eight-per-cent increase
By Liz Dadson

Kincardine council

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Kincardine council has whittled the 2010 budget down to an eight-per-cent increase in taxes.

At the second budget meeting last night (March 8), council finished going through the operating budget and discussed most of the capital projects before calling it quits for the night.

At the start of the meeting, chief administrative officer John deRosenroll pointed out that some changes made at the March 1 meeting resulted in surplus funds going into the budget.

This included $50,000 from physician recruitment; $25,000 from mould remediation at the Tiverton Fire Hall; and $100,000 from the physician recruitment incentive program. This put the tax increase at about seven per cent to start things off.

Councillor Guy Anderson and recreation director Karen Kieffer took the hot seat to deal with recreation services.

Of note was the fact that the Kincardine Arts Centre (old town hall) is not receiving enough in rent and in interest from the $1-million arts endowment fund to cover the operating expenses for that building. Kieffer said the high payments for the elevator installation have caused trouble for this budget.

Councillor Kenneth Craig said arts and culture in any municipality struggle to break-even. He suggested Kincardine endorse ways to increase traffic through the arts centre, such as providing the upstairs hall as a winter movie theatre.

Mayor Larry Kraemer questioned why the interest on the $1-million is not enough to cover the operating expenses. "It always accumulated a surplus of about $35,000 to $40,000 per year," he said. "Why do we have a $4,200 deficit now?'

Treasurer Brenda French said the interest rates are down, and $800,000 of the fund is in individual $100,000 GICs which are easier to access if the municipality and arts groups decide to build a new theatre - which was the purpose of the $1-million fund.

Deputy mayor Laura Haight said council must determine what value it places on programs in the community - be they arts and culture or parks and recreation. And the municipality must be prepared to support both.

Switching to discussion of the Davidson Centre, Kieffer said there is just enough in the budget to cover the extra maintenance for the addition to the centre, but it will be challenging once the new gymnasium is built. "We're looking at extra staff in 2011," she said.

"The building is well-used by many different groups," said Anderson.

Council discussed co-ordinating a summer student program, with one department spearheading the grant applications and then the students could be utilized in a variety of jobs through all departments. Either public works or recreation will take charge of this.

In the building and planning budget, councillor Ron Hewitt said the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority should not be a line item in this section because it is a separate board of directors. It should come to council through the corporate services committee, he said.

Council agreed to bring in more money from reserves to pay for the building department expenses. There are $385,000 in the reserve, so council will bring in a total of $75,000, rather than $50,000 from reserve. There is also the possibility of money coming from Ontario Power Generation through payment-in-lieu of building permit fees for a new dry storage building.

CAPITAL BUDGET

On the capital side of things, council decided to put $250,000 in the budget for a new steel roof on the municipal administrative centre. Initially, only $150,000 was set aside for an asphalt shingle roof, but council decided the steel roof would last longer.

Another $50,000 was not put in the budget for ductwork and insulation, said public works manager Jim O'Rourke. That project can be held for a year.

In the roads budget, council agreed to take out the Riggin Crescent upgrade, in the Huron Ridge subdivision, for a savings of $275,000. However, it put in the budget three projects that totalled $280,000: $130,000 for a stretch of sidewalk on King Street in Tiverton, $60,000 for Saratoga Road and Penetangore Row paving, and $90,000 for Mount Forest Avenue beside the Women's House Serving Bruce and Grey shelter.

Council agreed to take $325,000 out of reserve for the municipality's share of exterior improvements to the Kincardine Arts Centre. This project received two-thirds funding from the provincial and federal government.

However, council disagreed on whether to take the money from the tax mitigation reserve or from the $1-million arts endowment fund.

Kraemer said the endowment fund should be left as is because the interest from that fund is used to pay the annual operating expenses of the building.

Others argued that the endowment fund was put in place to support a new theatre in Kincardine. But since the current arts centre is being fixed up, the money should come from that fund.

Councillor Gordon Campbell even argued that it's not worth spending the money to fix up the old town hall, but he supported the project proceeding, with money from the $1-million fund.

"The $1-million arts fund is a good use for capital costs on this building (arts centre)," said Haight.

"If you collapse that fund, you won't have money for arts and culture," argued Kraemer.

"We're putting $1 million into that building (with assistance from the government grant)," said Anderson. "That's encouraging, if nothing else. It makes sense to use it out of that fund because that's the purpose of the fund. We're not trying to scare the arts groups. We're even talking about a mechanism for future support of the arts."

French cautioned that if council uses money from that fund, it must be prepared to put $12,000 to $13,000 into the operating budget to cover the costs of running that building.

"Again, it centres on how much you value those programs," said Haight. "How important are the arts programs, the Kincardine Theatre Guild, the professional theatre, the woodturners guild? We have to be more supportive of arts and culture."

"For the four years I've been on council, that arts fund has been a contentious issue," said councillor Marsha Leggett. "I'd like to see the whole damned thing spent so we don't have to deal with it again."

Council agreed to take $325,600 out of the arts endowment fund to pay for exterior renovations of the arts centre.

By the end of the night, the tax increase was at eight per cent, with one more page of the capital budget to discuss.

Council will continue budget talks Tuesday, March 23, at 5 p.m., at the municipal administrative centre.

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Tuesday, March 09, 2010