Huron County Warden George Robertson. File photo
HEATHER BOA Bullet News GODERICH – Huron County residents can expect a 2.47 per cent increase in the county portion of their tax bills after councillors approved its 2013 budget today.
That means a $9.80 increase for every $100,000 of residential assessment. Municipal, education and conservation authority levies make up the rest of the consolidated tax bill that property owners receive.
“I think that’s responsible, considering the fact of the amount of programs we have to carry out with the amount of money available,” said George Robertson, who is the county’s warden, after the council meeting.
“You have to commend staff because they did a good job bringing it down to this point without giving up too much,” he said.
Earlier in the budget process, council agreed to increase the amount of money it will spend on economic development to replace funds it received in the provincial Rural Economic Development grant program. It added $100,000 to a budget of $50,000, with $60,000 of that dispersed to lower-tier municipalities for business retention and economic development.
Council was waiting for one of the last pieces of the budget puzzle – last year’s surplus – before setting its sending for 2013.
Nancy Rennick, who is the county’ deputy treasurer, report approximately $1.4 million leftover from year’s budget.
Council agreed to use $1.13 million of the surplus to pay back an internal loan for construction of the County View Apartments. In 2010, the money was used to secure $3.72 million in provincial and federal grants to build the county-run facility.
They also dedicated an additional $50,000 to the county’s Clean Water project, which offers up to 50 per cent funding to landowners who voluntarily undertake projects to protect the water supply in Huron County. So the project increases from $350,000 to $400,000 in 2013.
In making a pitch to increase the funding to support clean water, Coun. Deb Shewfelt said there are companies in search of carbon offsets and people who want to help the environment but just need a “top up.”
“We could be ahead of the curve on some of this stuff,” he said.
Coun. Ben Van Diepenbeek supported him, saying, “If we don’t keep going up in that program, then we’re going to fall behind. Huron County is well recognized around the province with this program and we have quite a few counties around us looking at the same thing.”
Coun. Tyler Hessel asked council to consider adding another $10,000 to economic development, using money left over from last year’s budget.
“I’d like to make a plea as a person involved in economic development for our community and involved in watching what happens and I know, and I feel, that we are on the verge of good times,” he said. He calculated that since $60,000 of the $150,000 budget goes to municipalities, that leaves $90,000 for the county’s economic development department to use, and he asked to round it up to an even $100,000.
Coun. Art Versteeg said council should wait until next year to see how effective the injection of $100,000 was before making any additional increase.
Council refused to support Hessel’s plea.
Grants totalling $16,000 to groups in the county that have requested funding were approved.
The unspent portion of the surplus will be transferred to the county’s levy stabilization reserve to help offset the effects of a $150,100 decrease in unconditional grants from the province.
Last year, taxes increased one per cent.
