Penetanguishene councillors are moving forward with a 1.5 per cent municipal tax increase, expecting the overall rate to drop to near zero per cent once the education and county portions are taken into account.
And while the budget will now head to the final stage, it didn't clear without a few hiccups.
One concern raised by Coun. Dan LaRose was around the town extending a part-time bylaw officer contract to full-time.
“I just don't understand or see where this was coming from,” he said. “Nothing in our town has changed population-wise for the last 10 years. Barrie, after 17 years, is adding one more person to its bylaw complement. I don't understand what would warrant another full-time person.
"It just doesn't make sense to me," he added.
Staff was asked to shed some light on the situation.
“Over my time here, bylaw enforcement has continued to receive greater and greater attention,” said chief administrative officer Jeff Lees. “The model we currently work under is a reactive, rather than a proactive model. The hope is we can take a proactive approach.
“A number of municipalities are considering the same ask,” he added, noting those additional positions in Barrie would be staggered over the next couple of years.
Andrea Betty, director of planning and community development, also added to the discussion.
“I really do believe extending that position is of benefit to the community,” she said. ”There's definitely opportunities for bylaw to take a role in proactive enforcement. The staff report talks to the volume of calls and the complexity. And expectations of the public during COVID has been that the municipality will be there to respond.
“We also updated the Property Standards Bylaw and that expands the role of the municipality,” added Betty. “For those reasons, expanding the contract to one year is a good trial for the town to take on.”
With this, the motion by LaRose to reduce the hours from full-time to part-time was defeated.
LaRose wasn’t the only one looking to save some money.
“The other one I want to speak about is the Great Lakes (and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative) membership,” said Coun. Brian Cummings. “Apparently, we have a 20 per cent discount on it, but I really don't care because if our county is a member of this group, I don't see why we should be a member as well.”
Deputy Mayor Anita Dubeau defended the move.
“Yes, the County of Simcoe is a member, as are Wasaga Beach, Collingwood and Tiny (Township),” she said. “The point I would like to make is we all have shoreline issues and our priorities are different, but the group of us can lobby for dollars. Hopefully, a membership will be helpful in lobbying for dollars.”
Cummings furthered his point.
“I have never seen a report come anywhere from this firm,” he said. “It's in Chicago and most of the meetings take place there. I'm just wondering how our membership is worth anything if we're not going to get a say.”
Dubeau said the town gets a say if it’s a member.
Coun. George Vadeboncoeur, who is also the chief administrative officer for the Town of Wasaga Beach, provided some more information.
“Wasaga Beach has been an on and off member,” he said. “It's currently a member. It was something the previous mayor had an interest in. The conferences and the meetings have been (mostly) held in the States, but they've also been held in Ontario and Quebec.
"There is information that comes back to our communities, but it's a very broad organization representing communities around the lake and their mandate is to safeguard the overall health of the lake," Vadeboncoeur added.
LaRose backed Cummings.
“I don't remember getting any information on this," Larose said. "It's likely because we have such a small waterfront portion as compared to other municipalities so I don't believe it's of good value for us to be participating.”
The motion to leave the funding request out of budget was defeated.
