Chris Lowrey
MRC PONTIAC Nov. 22, 2017
The MRC Pontiac council of mayors has voted unanimously to approve the 2018 budget.
The budget was tabled at the first meeting of the newly-elected council of mayors.
The expenditures for this year’s budget come in at $6,179,661 which is down from last year’s total of $6,782,136.
The municipal shares that will go to the MRC from the municipalities will increase around 3.3 per cent from $2,852,443 to $2,950,000.
Municipal shares are based on the valuation of each property. Property owners pay 14 cents per $100 of value on their property. The main reason for the increase is an increase in property values.
One of the main reasons for the drop in the budget expenditures is a result of shuffling around some line items and the fact that the MRC is still waiting on approval for provincial grants.
For example, the MRC has done an inventory on the PPJ to see what areas are in need of improvement. The MRC still has around $95,000 to fix eight of the 22 culverts in need of urgent repairs.
The MRC is banking on getting its hand on provincial grant money next year but it needs to spend the remaining $95,000 in order to be eligible.
This is because the province won’t give out grant money that wasn’t spent the year before, which creates a “use it or lose it” mentality.
Since many provincial grants aren’t doled out until the beginning of the fiscal year in March, the MRC will have to wait to see what it is eligible for.
For example, last year the MRC spent $718,084 on partnership and development. The current budget pegs that number at $75,500 for the upcoming year.
The MRC also eliminated more than $100,000 from its fire and civil protection fund by shifting an employee to the professional and human resources department.
The MRC also hired an in-house engineer, which Warden Jane Toller said will lead to savings because the MRC won’t have to go the more expensive route of hiring contract engineers.
“[We want to] use the staff that we have here rather than contracting out because contracting out, if you have to, is always more expensive,” Toller said.
Each mayor will also receive a remuneration of $5,837 in addition to their salary from their municipality.
The council of mayors also agreed to move the monthly council meeting to the third Wednesday of every month at 6:30 p.m.
The aim is to make it easier for residents to attend meetings and give feedback to their local representatives.
