Council eyeing new user fees

Town council will vote this coming Monday (March 13) to pass a bylaw to adopt a new user fee schedule for the 2006 budget, but the public is welcome to give its input on the proposed hikes prior to then.
Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig said the revised schedule doesn’t mark any significant changes to the current rates.
“It’s just to keep pace with inflation. It’s almost a token type increase,” he noted. “They’re pretty moderate, pretty much reflective of the cost of living.
“They’re not indicative of any examination on our part that deem them to be not appropriate or too low, it’s just a general increase,” added McCaig. “That’s how I’d categorize it.”
The Administration and Finance division will see a roughly two percent increase across the board, affecting services from business and lottery licences to administrative charges (like the preparation and registration of tax arrears certificates).
Meanwhile, the Community Services division will see fee increases range from 2.2 to three percent.
These include a slight increase in ice and pool rental fees and gym memberships, a two percent increase to the non-resident rate for library membership, and a 2.2 percent fee increase for Fort Frances Day Care and Licensed Private Home Day Care.
The Operations and Facilities division also will see an average increase of two percent, with some exceptions. For instance, the minimum tipping fee at the landfill will go up from $11 to $12—a hike of about nine percent.
Finally, the Planning and Development division will see a few increases, such as plumbing inspection fees going up from $8 per fixture to $9 and a finished grade level fee going up from $80 to $92.
Information on any of the specific proposed fee increases will be made available, without cost, to any member of the public upon request as follows:
•a description of the service of activity for which a fee is imposed; and
•the amount of the revised fee or charge.
Council approved the proposed user fee schedules from the various divisions and authorized the clerk to prepare an amended bylaw at its last meeting (Feb. 28).
Anyone may attend the March 13 meeting to make a written or verbal presentation in support of or in opposition to the proposed increases.
For more information relating to the new user fee schedule, contact town treasurer Laurie Witherspoon at 274-5323 ext. 248.