Township treasurer, John Garneau, explained that due to inflation, the price of gas, materials and labour, the cost to run municipal services has gone up and as such we will either need to cut a service, find another source of revenue or increase taxes.
We are presently taxed by the county and the township. The estimated needed tax increase for the township budget of 2023 is 5-7%.
At the county level, the Director of Financial Services tells me that its very unlikely that the tax rate there will not go up. I'm told that the county is using reserves because tenders are all going for over the allotted budgeted amount.
The Director is unable to say for certain what the county will do to meet its needs. The county recognizes that taxes are going up at a township level and generally they strive to not compound the issue. However, it has yet to be determined how much money the county will receive from the federal and provincial governments and whether or not that would offset the need to raise county level taxes. That being said, its likely that the county will either cut services or raise taxes.
This is a difficult time to raise taxes, as the price of everything has gone up. Therefore if elected i would advocate for finding other streams of revenue to stave off the need for a tax hike on an already hard hit populace.
The one revenue stream i have in mind presently is that of charging $2.50 a garbage bag. I don't want to reinvent the wheel, but rather copy a program utilized in Edwardsburg Cardinal to great success.
The idea is that the municipality supplies clear, large garbage bags with a North Dundas logo on them, for sale at various outlets. That money in turn pays for waste management, making it a self sustained department. The effect would be that the resident is incentivized to reduce waste as they pay $2.50 a bag. The bags are clear so the operators can see if more that 30% of the bags contents is recyclable. If it is, they put a sticker on the bag saying they wont pick it up until the recyclable product is diverted in a blue bin.
One last step for waste management is to increase tipping fees and have clear direct sinage at the landfill indicating the payment procedure. Presently there is a stop sign and that is supposed to indicate to one, to stop and go inside to seek someone to give you a price. The current tipping price has not gone up for over 15 years. Its time.
I do not want to see more taxes that only increase the cost of living in expensive times. This is one measure I would advocate for that would hopefully stem off the need for a township tax increase.