That said, I really don’t want property taxes to go up. Who does?  I’m a pretty hard sell for any increases, as anyone who has been on Council with me will tell you. The Conservative party has come up with a platform promise that may play very well with the public; a promise that there will be no Municipal tax increases without a referendum. 

  There is one very big problem with this.  In the 5 1/2 years that I have served on Council, I can attest that every increase that our township has had to put in place can be directly attributed to things the province has imposed on us, and without financial help to deal with the imposition. 

  The original realignment of services, starting in 1998, that downloaded a whole shopping list of responsibilities to the municipalities was supposed to be revenue neutral. It was anything but, as a recent report from the Eastern Ontario Warden’s committee shows. This report shows a net deficit to Peterborough County in the cost of providing these services of $308,000 in 1999 to $1.4 million in 2002. This accounts for a large portion of the increase in the County portion of your tax bill.

  Ambulance Services is an example of why. This is supposedly funded half by the province, and half by municipal taxes. Last year we were faced with renewing the union contract, and the laws of supply and demand forced an increase of over 20% in ambulance wage rates. Even with this increase we are paying only in the mid-range of what paramedics are receiving across the province.  So the Province should pay their half of the increase. Right? Wrong. They pay half of only 2% leaving all but 1% to be absorbed by your property taxes. 80% of the Ambulance budget is wages.

At the local level, we’ve been required to comply with increased standards in Fire Service, which has made a full time Fire Chief, and a part time Deputy Chief necessary, along with upgraded equipment, and increased training. To be fair, our equipment was in need of upgrading, but we were forced to do it over a shorter time than we could readily afford. 

   Most people are aware that the Ministry of Environment is requiring that all of our landfill sites be closed and our waste transferred the Bensfort Road site. What you may not be aware of is the cost of consultants to prepare reports, applications and closure plans for each of eight sites, and that the Ministry charges $5,000 a pop to process them. There is requirement for ongoing testing for leachate for up to 25 years at each closed site. The new transfer station is estimated to cost in the $300,000 range. 

   Then there are the hidden downloads. The Province cut back support to Conservation Authorities and Libraries, leaving the responsibility to keep them running, by default, to Municipalities.

   The end is not yet in sight.  The new regulations for drinking water and nutrient management are coming on stream. You might wonder why they would affect a municipality like North Kawartha without a municipal water or sewage system. First, for our public buildings, the municipality must meet increased standards for water treatment and testing. The estimated cost of testing at the Apsley Community Centre alone is $120 per month. Additionally, if there is a communal water system serving at least five households, increased testing has to be done, along with the probability of expensive treatment upgrades. If the private owner of a system defaults in meeting these new standards, the province makes it the responsibility of the municipality. And finally, who knows where we will end up with the septage issue once it can no longer be spread on fields untreated. The province has made municipalities responsible for solving that problem, too.

  Now I don’t dispute that all of these things are in the interests of the public good, although it could be argued that in some cases the province is taking a sledgehammer to a thumbtack.  What I object to is municipalities being left holding the bag, with no real financial help from a province that decrees these things must happen.  As we all well know, there are limits to the extent that we can be taxed on our properties.

  Even the Conservative government seems to be getting that message. But is their solution to either ease off on the regulations, or to provide funding to municipalities to deal with them? 

  No. Instead they give us this very cynical election promise that infers that increases in property taxes are solely the result of poor local decisions, and municipal governments need the additional public accountability of a referendum.   This puts municipal administrations in an impossible position; that of having to shoulder provincially mandated responsibilities and standards and, potentially (who is going to vote FOR tax increases on a referendum?) being unable to tax for sufficient funds to meet them. 

  This particular plank in the Conservative platform, while it may have initial appeal, should be hauled out for closer scrutiny and rejected as warped and full of dry rot.