18 July 2010
Dear Editor
North Renfrew Times
Deep River, ON
North Renfrew Times
Deep River, ON
Letter to Editor
Please find attached my article titled ” Deep River taxes ” for your publication.
It is a bit longer as I find it difficult to shorten to express well. My apologies !
Many Thanks
Pravin Shah
———————————————————————————–
18 July 2010
Deep River taxes.
I think it is time that we pose for the moment and think about where Deep River is going in the future or where we want it to be.
There is a need for growth. Every once in a while one finds letters in our local newspaper calling for development of residences for newcomers and seniors in the town. High taxes are becoming a deterrence for such development and also for opening of new businesses.
It is a common knowledge that the Deep River Municipal taxes are high compared to many other municipalities. This is in spite of getting a substantial sum of money as grant-in-lieu (of Property Taxes) from AECL.
Further , the Deep River tax rate also has increased progressively over the years .
As the Municipal elections are getting closer, many candidates are coming forward to serve the community. This is good and we are very grateful. However, we need the leadership which can transform radically the operation of the Municipality so that the high taxes that we are burdened with can be reduced drastically.
We need tax reduction in our Municipal taxes – let us say by 50% . Is it doable? Yes, but of course, it is a suggestion (my dream!) at the moment. I am sure a detailed study by an expert group may come up with a way to reduce the tax burden.
The total annual income of Deep River Municipality is about $7 million of which the share of Municipal taxes is about $2.8 million ( 40 % of total) . The rest is from AECL grant-in-lieu, user fees and OMPF grants. Assume that our Municipal taxes are reduced by say 50% ( that comes to $1.4 million) – then the total income for the Municipality will reduce to $5.6 million – which is 80% of the present total income.
How can the reduction be made possible ? There are areas where our expenditures are more concentrated. These are
1) Fire Dept
2) Police Dept
We are thankful for our dedicated Fire Department and Police Department. Each and every member of these Departments have served in the past and are presently serving the community with utmost professionalism and dedication.
So what I suggest here is no reflection on their service and dedication. It is an abstract suggestion for an expert group to study in detail.
Between the two services (Fire Dept. and Police Dept.), we spend over $2 million annually.
The question is not that we do or do not need a fire department and also a Police Dept. We need both . But the structure of these need a review. Can a Fire Dept be volunteer based department or better – a hybrid – with a couple of full time officers and then the rest complement is made of volunteers. Similarly can the Policing need of the community be fulfilled by a hybrid organisation – with a couple of full time Deep River police officers with OPP providing whatever back-up services necessary. If this sort of organisational set-up is feasible – then the cost of these services can be reduced substantially. We need to look at our neighbouring Municipality – the Town of Laurentian Hills – and its provision of Fire fighting and policing requirements and costs thereto.
There are other areas where costs can be reviewed.
For example, currently we have weekly garbage collection while we have Blue Box collection done at every two weeks interval. Our experience says that our Blue Box contents is three to four times more than our regular garbage – so our regular garbage every week is small (compared to our Blue Box content) and can easily be collected every two weeks.
There are other areas of saving . For example, the large Municipality building would be incurring substantial electricity costs for heating and cooling . Would not a geothermal heating/cooling be feasible to be installed ? Geothermal heating systems work in a very unique way to naturally provide a heat source to a building. Not only can geothermal heating systems provide heat to a building, but it can actually cool it as well. Many people in the area are installing these. Recently, Deep River is digging for road work and installing of new water and sewer lines – not much far from the Municipal building and thus there was an opportunity to install this geothermal system at a reduced cost – a cost which can be recovered from savings in Electricity cost over a few years. On top of that we would have contributed to the “green” way of living.
We also need to visit the organisational structure of the Municipality itself. For example, can we not amalgamate with the neighbouring Municipalities especially the Town of Laurentian Hills. Do the Council need to meet every two weeks – why not once a month . This saves money, time and lots of paper work for minutes and other records. Do we need the Economic Development Department ?
We are fortunate to have excellent Council at present. Also our past Councils have provided a sterling service to the Community and I am very grateful for their (and our Municipal officers’ ) service and devotion within the mandate that they were given.
As the Municipal elections are coming closer, I am taking this opportunity to express my angst at high taxes (both residential and for businesses) and see a possibility to reduce these if bold initiatives are taken. I hope that the new Council will look deeply as to the way our Municipality is structured (both internally and externally) and the way services are provided. We need a mayoral candidate who can provide a visionary leadership who is not afraid of reviewing the established organisation and then bringing the results to the public.
These are changing times and to attract more people to Deep River , we need to be concerned about the high tax base ( which may influence not to move here ) compared to our neighbouring Municipalities.
Deep River taxes.
I think it is time that we pose for the moment and think about where Deep River is going in the future or where we want it to be.
There is a need for growth. Every once in a while one finds letters in our local newspaper calling for development of residences for newcomers and seniors in the town. High taxes are becoming a deterrence for such development and also for opening of new businesses.
It is a common knowledge that the Deep River Municipal taxes are high compared to many other municipalities. This is in spite of getting a substantial sum of money as grant-in-lieu (of Property Taxes) from AECL.
Further , the Deep River tax rate also has increased progressively over the years .
As the Municipal elections are getting closer, many candidates are coming forward to serve the community. This is good and we are very grateful. However, we need the leadership which can transform radically the operation of the Municipality so that the high taxes that we are burdened with can be reduced drastically.
We need tax reduction in our Municipal taxes – let us say by 50% . Is it doable? Yes, but of course, it is a suggestion (my dream!) at the moment. I am sure a detailed study by an expert group may come up with a way to reduce the tax burden.
The total annual income of Deep River Municipality is about $7 million of which the share of Municipal taxes is about $2.8 million ( 40 % of total) . The rest is from AECL grant-in-lieu, user fees and OMPF grants. Assume that our Municipal taxes are reduced by say 50% ( that comes to $1.4 million) – then the total income for the Municipality will reduce to $5.6 million – which is 80% of the present total income.
How can the reduction be made possible ? There are areas where our expenditures are more concentrated. These are
1) Fire Dept
2) Police Dept
We are thankful for our dedicated Fire Department and Police Department. Each and every member of these Departments have served in the past and are presently serving the community with utmost professionalism and dedication.
So what I suggest here is no reflection on their service and dedication. It is an abstract suggestion for an expert group to study in detail.
Between the two services (Fire Dept. and Police Dept.), we spend over $2 million annually.
The question is not that we do or do not need a fire department and also a Police Dept. We need both . But the structure of these need a review. Can a Fire Dept be volunteer based department or better – a hybrid – with a couple of full time officers and then the rest complement is made of volunteers. Similarly can the Policing need of the community be fulfilled by a hybrid organisation – with a couple of full time Deep River police officers with OPP providing whatever back-up services necessary. If this sort of organisational set-up is feasible – then the cost of these services can be reduced substantially. We need to look at our neighbouring Municipality – the Town of Laurentian Hills – and its provision of Fire fighting and policing requirements and costs thereto.
There are other areas where costs can be reviewed.
For example, currently we have weekly garbage collection while we have Blue Box collection done at every two weeks interval. Our experience says that our Blue Box contents is three to four times more than our regular garbage – so our regular garbage every week is small (compared to our Blue Box content) and can easily be collected every two weeks.
There are other areas of saving . For example, the large Municipality building would be incurring substantial electricity costs for heating and cooling . Would not a geothermal heating/cooling be feasible to be installed ? Geothermal heating systems work in a very unique way to naturally provide a heat source to a building. Not only can geothermal heating systems provide heat to a building, but it can actually cool it as well. Many people in the area are installing these. Recently, Deep River is digging for road work and installing of new water and sewer lines – not much far from the Municipal building and thus there was an opportunity to install this geothermal system at a reduced cost – a cost which can be recovered from savings in Electricity cost over a few years. On top of that we would have contributed to the “green” way of living.
We also need to visit the organisational structure of the Municipality itself. For example, can we not amalgamate with the neighbouring Municipalities especially the Town of Laurentian Hills. Do the Council need to meet every two weeks – why not once a month . This saves money, time and lots of paper work for minutes and other records. Do we need the Economic Development Department ?
We are fortunate to have excellent Council at present. Also our past Councils have provided a sterling service to the Community and I am very grateful for their (and our Municipal officers’ ) service and devotion within the mandate that they were given.
As the Municipal elections are coming closer, I am taking this opportunity to express my angst at high taxes (both residential and for businesses) and see a possibility to reduce these if bold initiatives are taken. I hope that the new Council will look deeply as to the way our Municipality is structured (both internally and externally) and the way services are provided. We need a mayoral candidate who can provide a visionary leadership who is not afraid of reviewing the established organisation and then bringing the results to the public.
These are changing times and to attract more people to Deep River , we need to be concerned about the high tax base ( which may influence not to move here ) compared to our neighbouring Municipalities.
Pravin Shah