Rainycrest budget passed

The board of management for Rainycrest Home for the Aged passed its budget Friday—setting its municipal levy increase at six percent.
This is less than half of last year’s increase of 12.5 percent.
But Fort Frances Mayor Dan Onichuk, who also is chair of the Rainycrest board, noted not all district municipalities will be paying more because the way the levy is distributed has been changed.
Previously, the Town of Fort Frances paid just over 58 percent of the Rainycrest levy. Now the town will pay just over 50 percent.
“The actual cost to the Town of Fort Frances—even with the increase—will be reduced,” Mayor Onichuk said.
Meanwhile, communities such as Atikokan and Lake of the Woods will see a dramatic increase in their share of the levy.
The weighting of the levy among municipalities hadn’t been adjusted since the mid-’90s, Mayor Onichuk noted.
In related news, Rainycrest’s 2004 year-end deficit of roughly $150,000 has been paid off using reserves.