Originally written for Port Rowan Good News during Noel Haydt’s 2014–2018 term as Ward 1 Councillor. Published here from the original archived document; spelling and wording have been preserved.
I hope that everyone has gotten back into the swing of things now that the kids and grandkids are back in school. We have been lucky to have had some beautiful weather in September and I have enjoyed seeing everyone out and about. I had a great time at Bayfest again this year and thank everyone for their hard work putting it together.
I will be seeing everyone at the Norfolk County Fair from October 3rd to 9th. Once again there will be a fantastic line up of events from concerts to agriculture to motorsports and food, plus much more. There will be something for everyone so get out and have some fun.
This year we were very lucky to have the Norfolk County Celebrations of Culture as part of the Canada 150 celebrations. These events were hosted in five Norfolk Towns and showcased the best of Norfolk’s arts, heritage and history. I had the opportunity to attend a number of the events on the passports and they were fantastic. The amount of work that goes into a county wide event such as this is tremendous. I really need to thank Adam Veri and his incredible team for getting this off the ground, Cindy Vanderstar for being our local coordinator and everyone else involved in the individual events. I really hope we see more of these in the future.
Community Hub :
There’s been a lot of talk about Norfolk County investing in a community hub as of late. It’s proposed to be an indoor gym, pool, fitness area, community hall and senior center among other amenities.
Council recently approved to hire a consultant at a cost of $98,000 to look at suitable locations and a potential design. I did not support this for several reasons. Council had approved a budget of $50,000 and we were not provided the terms of reference for the study as put forward by staff so no explanation of the budget over run could be determined.
I have received very few calls in support of a community hub in Simcoe but have received many calls from residents in our area that are not in favour of this potential facility. One common concern with the calls against the hub has been that the County doesn’t look after the buildings that we currently have. I cannot disagree with that statement. How long have the blue tarps been on the EMS stations garage roof on highway 59 - too long? The roof on the library is also in need of a replacement and now, in addition, the basement has flooding issues. The Port Rowan Community Center is tired looking and could certainly use a façade improvement at the least. You may have noticed the mulch and armour stone recently placed at the skate park. I’m told that there wasn’t any money left in the budget for plants and shrubs. Then there’s the baseball park by the water tower, if you could call it that. Money has been set aside for harbor upgrades, however, very little has actually been spent on it. Even the docks didn’t go in until August.
It’s time that south west Norfolk County started to see some of our tax dollars spent in our community.
I will be bringing an extensive list to this year’s budget negotiation to see some of these projects completed. Feel free to contact me to relay any ideas that you may have for the betterment of our community. There will also be a community meeting regarding the hub at the Port Rowan Community Center on Monday October 23rd. Hear the proposal, have your say. See you there.
While the hub certainly does have some benefits such as attracting sports tournaments, giving people more recreational choices and a possible Fanshawe College expansion, it still needs to be paid for and the $40-50 million isn’t available at this point. Numerous facilities in Ontario have cheaper solutions to make their facilities more multi-purpose. I have attended numerous volleyball tournaments where temporary flooring has been placed on the unused hockey rink during the summer months. This doesn’t give us everything, however, smaller and cheaper solutions are likely more within our current budget and can increase our usage.
The elephant in the room is still the Robinson Street Administration building that is in receivership and the $20 million dollar price tag that comes with it. Should County purchase it? This extra space could house a new seniors center, as well as, to amalgamate various county departments for efficiency.
On August 22nd, Norfolk County posted the audited financial statements for 2016.
Here’s a quick breakout from 2015 to 2016 :
Federal Government transfers – decreased $4 million
Provincial Government transfers – increased $4 million
Taxation increased by $4.8 million while government expenses climbed $7.4 million.
Overall tax supported operations ran a deficit of almost $3 million dollars and there was a $4-m reduction in cash and investments. No new debt was added in the 2016 financials because it was issued later in March of 2017 in the amount of just over $19 million. Investment income was down which is expected in this low interest rate environment.
While these are certainly not the numbers that you want to see in your financials, in light of them, council did make a good decision to start contributing more to our reserve accounts (savings). This will hopefully address the fact that the reserve accounts have been woefully underfunded as those savings were spent in previous years. While this is a good step it’s one of many and council will have some tough decisions to make during our operating budget deliberations. I will continue to put forth proposed cuts to operating costs and push to look for more efficiency.
On the growth side, development has been really strong so far this year and that will help spread the base. Council made a wise decision to support a revised development charge study to make sure that this growth is being paid for by itself and not the current rate payers.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you will be blessed to spend the time with family and friends. There are a number of Dinners throughout our area, so if you are able, please go out and support the community by either volunteering or eating.
Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours.