MUSKOKA LAKES - Muskoka Lakes township is eyeing a property tax increase of 2.5 per cent to drive economic development, but is questioning whether to double the fire department’s training funds.
The proposed increase came as part of the township’s 2012 draft budget, which was presented at a committee of the whole meeting on Jan. 31. According to township treasurer Stephen Rettie, the hiring of a new economic development coordinator and fire training are the main drivers behind the increase, which will raise property taxes by $2.22 based on $100,000 worth of assessment value.
Fire chief Richard Hayes explained to council that the $190,000 education and training request is necessary to certify more firefighters to provincial firefighting standards. But as council is unfamiliar with those standards, they decided they need to examine the request in further detail before giving approval.
Last year, the training budget was about $97,000.
“There’s no doubt that it would be additive,” Mayor Alice Murphy said of the training funding hike. “But I’m going back to what we need to do for compliance purposes and safety purposes versus whether or not we have the ‘Rolls-Royce’ of fire departments.”
In a previous three-part series on volunteer firefighting published by the Bracebridge Examiner, Hayes said the certifications are needed to prove the department meets the requirements of the Workplace Health and Safety Act. Previously, many volunteer firefighters in the province learned their tasks through informal, on-the-job training.
Though Hayes said he doesn’t doubt the abilities of his fire crews, the paperwork is necessary to show what they have learned.
“We need to get to those standards to prove that,” he said before council.
The standards are set by the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs, and require that all full-time and volunteer firefighters across Ontario be trained on a uniform curriculum designed by the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office. Many departments in the province adopted the uniform standards and training after a series of incidents highlighted liability issues with informal training.
In 2010, the Ministry of Labour pressed a number of charges against the Port Edward Fire Department’s chief and training officer after it was found that a firefighter killed during ice-water rescue exercises did not have the necessary rescue equipment or proper training. In the same year, the Meaford Fire Department was also charged for training issues after two firefighters were injured fighting a restaurant fire.
The draft budget also includes $32,900 to create a full-time economic development coordinator position. While a job description has yet to be created, council envisions the job as one that may blend economic development with other administrative duties. The position is expected to be filled by April 2012, and replaces that of parks, recreation and facilities manager Lise Saumur, who was let go in December.
At the time, council said Saumur was downsized because the township needed to restructure her job into one that places more emphasis on economic development.
During the meeting, Coun. Brad Burgess also expressed concerns that council is not putting enough emphasis on long-term financial planning, especially in regard to repairing the township’s crumbling infrastructure.
The concern comes on the heels of a $7-million infrastructure bill tabled by consultants C.C. Tatham and Associates before council in mid-January. According to its report, the costs are intended to repair 10 sections of township roads, replace an Ullswater-area bridge, and to rehabilitate collapsing portions of the Windermere shoreline walls.
“I don’t see a lot of money coming from the upper-tier governments right now; they’re looking at slashing and burning and cutting because of their deficits,” he said.
While council was supposed to discuss its draft strategic plan, the issue was deferred until next week as council ran out of time after nearly seven hours of budget talks.
Although it is common practice for some municipalities, Rettie said that to his knowledge, “there is nothing legislated” requiring the township to pass a strategic plan before approving a budget.