The United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry’s budget deliberations wrapped up February 16th with a planned 1.2 per cent tax increase to the counties portion of property tax bills.
Overall, the 2016 budget will generate $42 million tax dollars.
The 1.2 per cent increase is about $14 on a typical residential property in SDG.
A typical residential property in SDG is now valued at $194,000, which is about four per cent more than last year.
The annual budget is the key policy document of the County, approving all operational items and capital projects for 2016.
The comprehensive budget also includes the estimated cost of services the County shares with the City of Cornwall as well as estimates for services provided by external agencies, including policing, Cornwall and the Counties Tourism, and the Eastern Ontario Health Unit.
“County Council is very pleased with our 2016 budget,” said SDG Warden Jamie MacDonald.
“Due to a number of positive factors we were able to approve a document that places great emphasis on upgrading and maintaining our vital road and bridge infrastructure, while at the same time respecting our taxpayers by holding the increase to the rate of inflation. I am particularly proud of the very robust capital program the County will be completing in 2016, where we plan on spending $13.44M on roads and bridges. The County is also very well positioned to access federal and provincial infrastructure dollars when they become available later this year, with a variety of priority ‘shovel ready’ projects available”.
Of the $13.4 million worth of roads spending, almost $5 million was allocated to projects in South Dundas including:
• County Road 1 from County Road 18 to Hulbert Road ($1,004,000)
• Detailed Design for County Road 2, Iroquois roundabout at intersection of County Road 2 and County
• Road 1 ($71,000)
• County Road 7 from County Road 31 to west limits of Elma ($544,000)
• County Road 11 from Mary’s Road to Grantley Road ($1,230,000) – Note: a majority of this road is a boundary road between South Stormont and South Dundas
• County Road 18 from Whittaker Road to County Road 8 ($1,150,000)
• Flagg Creek Culvert Replacement ($316,000)
• Haines Municipal Culvert ($364,000)
• Upper Canada Road ($200,000 put in reserve for potential transfer of road).
Along with a $1 million increase in capital roads spending from 2015, this budget allows the counties to increase its reserve position to $13.6 million.
The counties finished 2015 in a strong surplus position, having seen policing costs decrease by $1 million with no decrease in service. SDG has seen strong assessment growth resulting in $487,000 in new revenue.
The Municipality of South Dundas has not yet completed budget deliberations, but is aiming for an increase to the municipal portion of the tax bill that is similar in size to the counties increase.
The education portion of property tax bills is not expected to increase.
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