There are a couple very important Municipal meetings over the next month: one of them is the 2014 Business Plan and Budget. It will be on the December 16th Council meeting. Public comment and input is very much wanted. To enable quality feedback from the public Finance have committed to having the budget information available at the Township Office and on its website on December 9th.
Compared to the other important Municipal meeting during the next couple months (i.e. the Official Plan Review) the 2014 Budget is easy to comprehend. The final end product, so to speak, is the property tax rate. The choices are all about the services the Township is to provide: do we continue the current ones at the current levels; or do we adjust service levels and add new ones?
Here are a couple of the ideas for changes to services:
- Do we contract with Toronto Wildlife Centre for services related to sick/injured or abandoned wild animals? (We have only funded a pilot project to date.)
- Do we develop and implement Community Improvement Plans in the historic cores of our 3 villages? Background information was provided to Council; you can read it here.
- Do we establish Heritage Grant Program to incent care & maintenance of designated properties? You can read background information provided to Council here. I am very much in favour of implementing such a program. King is proud of its cultural and historical heritage. Protecting heritage properties is one means of creating a unique valuable sense of place and identity. The whole community has a vested interest in such properties being protected and being part of the current contemporary community. Clearly most of the responsibility for these properties rests with the property owners; but as we all gain I believe we need to make a contribution,even a modest one.
We have a very challenging goal: adopt the budget on January 13th, 2014. It is truly a challenging one as only 4 years ago it was nearly May before the budget for the year was adopted. Finance continues to leads us in a process which enables the Staff to be most efficient in planning the work which means maximum value for our tax dollars.
When the budget information is released on December 2nd I urge you to review it; easily you will see how it is being proposed to spend your tax dollars . And if you would like to comment, ask questions do not hesitate to contact me and/or attend the 12/16 Council meeting to make a deputation.
Hi Debbie,
I am so happy to hear that the Township is considering having a Heritage Grant Fund as an incentive for property owners to agree to have their property designated as heritage. Too many property owners are afraid that they will in fact lose money if their property is designated. This incentive will help to offset the negative perceptions.
Nancy Hopkinson