Sunday, March 12, 2017

Sunday March 12, 2017


Ladies and Gentlemen



Our first 2017 budget meeting is behind us and the first draft municipal tax rate shows an increase of 3.1%. If Council accepted this draft, then the all in tax rate increase, combining County and school amounts, would likely be in the range of 2.5%. More budget work ahead.



It’s March break week.  A quieter week for the Town even though I expect to see more young folks in the downtown. Enjoy.



The Week Ahead



Monday March 13th features the Daffodil flag raising for the Canadian Cancer Society at Town Hall at 1:00 pm.



On Tuesday the 14th it’s likely to be a long County Council meeting in Midhurst starting at 9:00 am. The meeting will review Midland’s OPA Number 9 concerning Second Units in our Town.



On Wednesday I meet with Bruce Stanton MP to discuss federal government support for our King Street Redevelopment project.



Week - End



Saturday March 18



-       8:00 pm Leahy-The Next Generation will entertain you with Celtic fiddle music by six incredibly talented youngsters at the MCC



Sunday March 19



-       Southern Georgian Bay Farmers Market is at the Huronia Museum starting at 9:00 am, every Sunday during the winter months

-       Brookside brings you Scaramella, a celebration of Baroque music at the MCC at 2:00 pm



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Council Issues Update



Budget



The first budge meeting heard from all municipal Boards and commissions, including the Midland police and our library. It also reviewed the operating budget for all Town departments.



The marathon 8 hour meeting was especially challenging this year as our Treasurer introduced a new budget format and methodology.  A fair bit of time was spent considering how the new representation of the budget figures related to the expenditures from previous years. The purpose of changing the format was to improve transparency – to let Council and the public have a better understanding of service delivery costs. For example, we were shown for the first time that the cost of staff time to support our 39 Town committees was in excess of $400,000.



So the bottom line for the first draft shows a municipal year over year tax increase at 3.1 %. Our next budget meeting takes place on March 22nd at 3:30 pm.





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A calendar reminder that the second annual Mac & Cheese dinner in support of the We Are the Villagers children’s charity takes place on April 3rd at Lot 102 - three dinner sittings of 4:30, 5:45 and 7:00 pm.



 



Gord McKay





The Year for Getting It Done - 2017

                                                                                              



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