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MAYOR'S MESSAGE - DECEMBER, 2005
It is my pleasure to report to McDougall residents that the summer of 2005 was full of great accomplishments by your Municipality. We were able to complete our scheduled road construction projects on Miller Drive and The Bunny trail on time and under budget. This allowed us to advance the reconstruction of part of the North Road in Taylor Subdivision from 2006 ahead to 2005. Congratulations to our Public Works Department for excellent work. The Swim program was very successful and experienced increased enrollment. Parks and boat launches were in great condition and well utilized.
The required funding changes required to allow the Nobel Water sharing project with the Town Of Parry Sound were successfully negotiated with the Provincial and Federal Government. These negotiations took a great amount of time by Councilor Dixon, CAO Garfield Eaton, Public Works Director Tim Hunt and myself. The end result made the effort worthwhile. The route surveying has been completed and at this time I expect the water transmission line project to be tendered before the end of the year with construction to begin in early 2006.
The Provincial authorities at the Ministry Of the Environment continue to drag out the process of approving the additional capacity at our Landfill site that is required to allow for a 25 year plan to handle the recycling and waste management needs of our growing Municipality. We have been granted short-term capacity approval that will handle our needs for the next three years. I firmly believe that our goal of a local solution that was arrived at through the Environmental Assessment Process is the financially and environmentally correct approach. We continue to lobby the senior levels of government for their support. We have made an application through COMRIF 2 funding that if successful will provide up to $5,000,000 for Engineering and Construction Costs.
Our Official Plan received its’ preliminary review by the Ministry Of Municipal Affairs and the process of finalizing it’s acceptance by the Province is underway. Some of the appeals to the accompanying Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw have been dealt with already. One of the appeals was from the Town Of Parry Sound. They continue to think that keeping all of the commercial development in the area within their own boundaries is good planning! It is obvious to me that this is short-term thinking and that McDougall’s approach was forward thinking as we were designating areas for commercial growth that would have been away from residential areas. I do not think that the spending of your tax dollars on an expensive legal battle is the answer. In keeping with that thinking we have removed the commercial zoning at Bowes Street/ #400 and #124/#69 from the bylaw. We are now trying to have Area Economic Development discussions with Parry Sound and Seguin to develop a regional strategy.
The recent application from Fowler Construction to rezone their McDougall Road property to allow for a permanent asphalt plant was denied by council. I thank Fowler Construction and the ratepayers for all the input given to council to assist with this decision. It is not known at this time if Fowler will appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board.
You will by now have received your new Property Assessment from MPAC. The average increase in McDougall was 28.5%. Those of us on waterfront were hit even harder than the average. There is very little that we at the Municipal level can do about this situation other than adjust the tax rate since MPAC is a Provincial agency and the collection of taxes based on property value is the system of taxation mandated to us by the Province. This tax rate adjustment will soften the blow for those at or below the average. If you think that your assessment does not reflect true market value then you should appeal under the guidelines provided with your notice. I often hear the complaint that people don’t think they get much in return for their Municipal tax dollar. Firstly, 42% of that dollar goes straight to the Province to fund Education. From the remaining 58% we are legally bound to fund District Social Services, District Health Unit, Policing and Belvedere Heights Home For The Aged. From the small remaining portion we have to fund the day to day operations of the Municipality: Road Maintenance, Fire protection, Recreation, Culture, Administration, Waste Management, just to name a few. With all this in mind, I believe that at your Municipal level you are receiving good value.
Please have safe and prosperous winter season in McDougall.
Click here for the Mayor's Report from May 2005
Click here for the Mayor's Report from Dec 2004
Click here for the Mayor's Report from June 2004
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Municipality
of McDougall Mayor