The MRC Pontiac Council of Mayors held its monthly meeting last Wednesday. The highlight of this meeting was the adoption of the 2023 budget. The budget was balanced, with the expenses matching the MRCs revenue.

The budgets total expenditure was a little over $9,504,059 with the revenue from municipal shares (contributions from the MRC’s 18 municipalities based on their standardized property value) at $4,152,104 and revenue from grants, services and other sources at $5,351,955.

“With this budget, the MRC is committed to the economic recovery and development of the region while focusing on its own competencies, such as property assessment, public safety and land use planning,” stated the press release accompanying the budget.

A budget summary released by the MRC outlined the expenses in budget as the following:

Administration: $1,814,380
Public Safety and Engineering: $585,090
Assessment: $1,247,918
Land Use Planning and Development: $2,227,158
Economic Development Projects and Activities: $2,872,984
Transportation: $605,039
Renovation programs: $31,500
Financing costs and capital expenditures: $99,990
Warden election costs by universal vote (prorated over four years): $20,000

The 2023 budget is around a $500,000 increase from the 2022 budget, with $740,000 more revenue brought in from municipal shares. However, the total rate of municipal shares is down from $0.135 to $0.1329 per $100 of standardized property value of each municipality, as increased property values have significantly raised the valuation of property taxes across the region.

Property tax increases are still to be determined when the municipalities adopt their budgets over December. Toller predicts that there will be an increase in property taxes across the region, albeit not a “not a major one.” Toller added that municipalities like Clarendon, Otter Lake, Chichester and Rapides-des-Joachims are particularly vulnerable to tax increases due local spikes in property values and therefore assessments.

“I know that those mayors in particular are working hard to keep their tax increase as low as possible,’’ said Toller. “And because of the cuts we were able to make yesterday, it has helped everybody.”

All of the mayors were involved in going through the budget line by line until the Nov. 23 deadline, which was the day MRCs were mandated to adopt a budget, according to Toller.

“If we hadn’t done this work, working with the financial team, we might have been looking at a higher increase. And because of the work that we did, really going line by line, it’s made a difference. And we have lessened the burden on taxpayers.” said Toller.

Economic uncertainty played a big role in budget deliberations, according to Toller.

“We are going to aim to live within our means. And we’re certainly aware of the fact that they’re talking about heading into a recession. And if anything, many people tell me that they feel their taxes are high enough,” she said.

The budget neither added or subtracted to the MRC’s Surplus, which is the reserve funds the MRC holds to cover any budget deficit. As of the end of this year the MRC had about $500,000 in surplus, according to Toller.

“We do not want to be dependent on the surplus to bail out the budget. If we have a surplus, it needs to be at least where it is right now for any emergencies,” she said.

You can see the full budget on the MRC website.

Other resolutions were presented and passed at the meeting.

This was the first public meeting presided over by the new interim Director General Kim Lesage and the new economic development officer Guillaume Boudreau. Boudreau said he looked forward to meeting with every mayor and getting to know their communities.

About $111,000 of the COVID-19 financial aid given to the MRC by the province was approved to be spent. The funds need to be spent by the end of the year. This month’s expense was approved for various kinds of equipment, work on the MRC property in Campbell’s Bay and building bathrooms along the PPJ bike trail.

Kathrine Morris, who runs animal aide Pontic was honoured at the meeting by Warden Toller and presented with a $10,000 cheque to help with the group’s expensive operations. The group’s main mission is to help keep the feline population of the Pontiac in check through efforts to spay and neuter wild and feral cats.

“Thank you for the support, sometimes it is a thankless job, like nobody even notices what we do. Last year there were more than 600 cats we brought to surgery. There are thousands of cats in the Pontiac living outside and they are all breeding. We are trying to get to them as fast as we can but it will probably take until I’m 95,” joked Morris during her remarks thanking the council for its support.

Morris said she takes carloads of cats to Brockville and Montreal regularly in order to get discounted spay and neuter surgeries. She encourages anyone to contact Animal Aide Pontiac on Facebook or at animalaidePontiac@gmail.com if they have questions about spaying or neutering their cats, though she cautioned it may take some time to get some help due to the intensity of the group’s workload.

On public safety the MRC passed a few resolutions updating the fire safety cover plan, which include a resolution to produce a map of the Pontiac outlining a strike force for each municipal fire department and the hiring of an additional fire prevention offcer.

The MRC also awarded some of its last donations of the year as funds available from 2022 are nearing their end.

You can watch the full public meeting on the MRC’s Facebook page.

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