Staff
Having all but finalized the 2013 budget during a meeting last week, the town publicly will present it at tonight’s regular council meeting.
“The purpose of it is to explain how the town is financed, how the town’s tax dollars are applied,” treasurer Laurie Witherspoon said Friday afternoon.
An update on revenues and expenditures, reserve funds, and a comparison between this year’s and last year’s figures will be part of the presentation, as will how this year’s levy increase will impact ratepayers.
As reported last week, council voted in favour of a taxation scenario which, among other changes, indicates a levy increase of 1.8 percent for residential taxpayers, which translates into an overall tax rate increase of 0.677 percent.
The town put out a call to the public for presentations or written submissions either in support of or against the 2013 budget, but clerk Glenn Treftlin confirmed Friday that no one has expressed interest.
But as in past years, the public is encouraged to attend tonight’s meeting.
Council also will vote on several bylaws related to the 2013 budget, including ones to:
•impose user fees for 2013 (this has been amended to include the new environmental fee and airport fees);
•adopt the estimates of all sums required for all municipal purposes during the year 2013;
•to establish tax ratios for prescribed property classes;
•to authorize the levy and collection of taxes for all municipal purposes in the Town of Fort Frances for the year 2013; and
•to authorize capping parameters for commercial, industrial, and multi-residential capped property classes, and to establish a minimum tax level for certain eligible properties.
Tonight’s council meeting is scheduled to start at 6:35 p.m.
It will be preceded by the committee of the whole at 5:30 p.m., but mayor and council are expected to be in-camera until about 5:50.
Other business on the agenda includes:
•an appointment to Citizen of the Year committee;
•a request from Leroy Carpenter re: sale of property legally described as Pt HB RES PCL 8372;
•a review of Volume No. 7—Northern Ontario: A Study of the Optimization of the Blue Box Material Processing System in Ontario (final report);
•an expense claim for Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig;
•an expense claim for Mayor Roy Avis;
•a request to support a resolution re: MPAC fees and services;
•a report re: 2013 capping parameters for capped properties;
•a request from Scott Armstrong re: approval for operation of a taxi business in the Town of Fort Frances;
•a request from Rainy River Vet Services Committee re: the Vet Assistance Trust Fund contribution;
•a request from Riverside Health Care Facilities, Inc. re: to proclaim May 6-12 as “Nurses Week” in the Town of Fort Frances;
•a request from the Canadian Dermatology Association to proclaim May 6 as “Light It Orange—Melanoma Monday,” and June 3-9 as “25th National Sun Awareness Week” in the Town of Fort Frances;
•a bylaw to authorize a lease with respect to certain municipal property at 501 Sixth St. W.;
•a bylaw to authorize the signing of an employment agreement with Gary Rogozinski as caretaker of Kiwanis Sunny Cove Camp;
•a request from the Fort Frances Power Corp. board of directors’ personnel selection committee for a recommendation to fill a board vacancy; and
•a request from the Royal Canadian Legion Fort Frances Br. #29 to use the Church Street and Veterans Avenue parking lot, and donation of the Ice For Kids cemented surface or upstairs hall, for a Colour Party school on May 11-12.
