Residents in St. Clair Township will see a tiny increase in their municipal tax rate this year.
St. Clair Township council adopted their 2022 budget on March 7, settling on an increase of $135,398 in the budget, which works out to a tax hike of 0.92 per cent.
With a steep hike in insurance and fuel costs, council agreed to take money out the township’s operating reserve fund to minimize the burden on taxpayers, said Mayor Steve Arnold.
“Staff came in with a number a little bit higher than that, but council took a long look at it,” he said. “Over the last number of years we’ve been building up our operating reserve fund. So we had some extra money in there and council made the motion to move a few hundred thousand dollars out of there and move it to the budget to make sure that the number came down. We felt it was a lot better to be at 0.92 per cent than to be somewhat higher.”
Arnold continued: “I think everything went really well but a lot has changed in the past year,” Arnold continued. “Insurance costs have gone up nearly 20 per cent – I think it’s gone up from 16 to 18 per cent this year – so there were some challenges there and the increased price of fuel was also reflected in the budget.”
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In other business, township council unanimously agreed to donate $25,000 to the Canadian Red Cross in support of Ukraine.
Deputy Mayor Steve Miller made the motion, taking the money from the township’s Environment and Education fund.
“I think we should support these people in some way,” he said.
After the meeting, Arnold said he hoped the township’s donation would inspire other municipalities to give.
“The challenge from council is that all municipalities will look at doing something like that to help out with the humanitarian crisis going on in Ukraine,” he said. “We used the Canadian Red Cross because we felt that they are a reputable organization who will be able to deliver relief on the ground.
“I was really encouraged by (the motion) and I imagine the deputy mayor will carry this to county council because this crisis isn’t going to go away anytime soon.”
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Council’s March 7 meeting marked the first in-person meeting of council in over two years, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
All but one councilor attended the meeting at the council chambers in the civic centre, with Coun. DeGurse and staff members partaking in the meeting via Zoom.
Arnold said the was pleased to be back meeting in person and hoped members of the public would soon be allowed back in the chambers. He also said he hoped a virtual component of council meetings would continue.
“One of the few good things that has come out of this pandemic is that now we have the technology to help us out. I’ve tried for the past eight, nine years to get a (virtual) option for council meetings, but we could never get a technology company to come to the table,” he said. “But now with Zoom it costs nothing, so it’s very cost effective and it gives both council and the public more options.”
Council will decide during their March 21 meeting when members of the public will be allowed back inside council chambers.