Robert Fisher
Staff Reporter
BARRY’S BAY – Residents in Madawaska Valley will see a 4.84 per cent increase in their property tax levy, following a second lengthy budget meeting last Monday. The increase includes the increase in policing costs which represents approximately two per cent of the total. The final figure is a slight reduction from the initial draft which included a five per cent increase. Council did not pass the budget bylaw on Monday because some staffing issues needed to be discussed in closed session the next day. The increase will stay the same barring any last minute surprises.
We reported in our March 4 edition that each one per cent in taxation represents $53,000 in revenue or expenses. The total budget is nearly $12 million.
Coun. Shelley Maika opened a discussion of the rate increase, saying she is not pleased with the result and asked that council provide direction to staff to find savings of $53,000 to enable the increase to come down by one per cent.
“Surely there can be $53,000 found,” in a budget of nearly $12 million, she suggested.
“The community is struggling and things are getting worse,” she said, adding that if the township conducted a full review of expenses, more savings could likely be found.
“I don’t know how staff can go and find this kind of reduction, in any way,” Mayor David Shulist began, “because I’ve asked them to bring in a budget that will stabilize our running of this township.”
Shulist asked Treasurer Amanda Hudder if she could, on the spot, recommend anyplace where savings could be generated. Council resumed discussion before Hudder could reply.
“I don’t think it’s something that I need to direct back to the staff to do,” Coun. Mary Blank offered, suggesting she is, however, concerned about reserve levels. She further suggested residents can shoulder the burden because the increase amounts to $34.79 for property valued at $150,000. “Those are not huge increases,” she said.
The lowest-priced property in the township on realtor.ca is a small, one bedroom home on Paugh Lake Road which is offered at $119,000. The next lowest is a two-bedroom home on Mullen Road offered at $189,900. Another two-bedroom home on Wilno Street is offered at $224,900. The average price of properties with homes (not including empty lots) available for sale currently in MV is $674,395, which is an average tax increase of $156.41.
The increase proposed by Madawaska Valley is on top of the already approved 6.8 per cent increase from the County of Renfrew.
People and families living in waterfront properties that were built 30, 40 or 50 years ago and have risen in value substantially in recent years have seen substantial tax increases.
Blank also suggested that higher tax increases in prior years would have put the municipality in better shape than it is today.
Coun. Linda Neuman asked Hudder to show a spreadsheet which compared tax levy increases against inflation in the past five years. The average inflation rate over the period was 3.72 per cent and the average tax increase was 2.28 per cent. The period, 2021 to 2025 includes 6.8 per cent in 2022, during the pandemic.
Neuman suggested that inflation impacts everything the township does. “CPI, everything, is added to what our services and everything … we didn’t cover it,” she said, implying the township has underfunded its operations through tax increases.
“(W)hen are we going to make that up?” she asked. “Because if we don’t make that up now or start making it up, it’s going to go on to,” the next council after the autumn elections, when the increase will be “I’m just guessing here” 10 to 15 (per cent). She recommended that council use the consumer price index as a budget base, “to cover our expenses.”
Coun. Joseph Cybulski suggested that inflation will be four or five per cent by the end of the year due to current world events and agreed with Neuman that the tax increase needs to be higher to catch up on previous underfunding. He suggested an additional one per cent per year for “several years.”
He concluded his remarks saying, “Some of us are right and some of us are wrong.”
“Good discussion,” offered Shulist. He reiterated the point that council has done its job and he does not want to send staff back to do more work.
Cybulski, centring on roads and operations, wondered if the township could cut the amount of diesel fuel it uses or cut back on maintenance on some roads.
“I think we need to direct staff to help us out,” said Blank, referring to operations staff monitoring the amount of fuel used.
Maika told council she did not support targeting a single department. “This is across the board,” she said, noting that the recreation budget has increased from about half a million at the start of the current council term to around $2 million now. She also said the practice of incremental budgeting – using the prior year actuals as a base and increasing from there – rather than conducting a true variance analysis to find out why a particular department or operating segment was over budget, is what has put the township in its current position.
“(T)he first two years, there was very little control here. Everything was over budget,” she said and that using inflation as a rationale is a copout.
Budget highlights
New sound system at the Paul J. Yakabuski Community Centre (PJY).
Ballfield lighting at PJY.
LED rink lighting at PJY.
Elevator refurbishment at PJY.
Combermere outdoor rink rehabilitation ($200,000 grant funded)
Gravel resurfacing of parts of Kowal Road, Carmel Hill Road, Serran Road, Peplinskie Road, Coulas Road and Upper Rosenthal Road.
Airport Road rehabilitation.
Hildebrandt Street rehabilitation.
Wooden water tower structural evaluation.
Fire department
Fire Chief Corwin Quade informed council that the Province of Ontario is making changes to the act governing wildfires which will include increased restrictions during fire bans, giving more authority to local fire departments to act when people ignore a fire ban or implement more stringent local restrictions based on need. Quade said the legislation may be ready in late 2026 or early 2027.
The department responded to a call for the smell of propane and discovered a supplier filled an outside tank to 95 per cent, rather than the mandated 80 per cent, which caused a backflow into the residence. Quade said he spoke with the supplier. “That can’t happen again,” he stressed.
Quade reported that a false alarm call occurred in a municipal building. The incident occurred during Flannel Fest.
Coun. Shelley Maika explained that a band tested a dry ice machine and the vapour from the dry ice tripped the smoke alarm in the building.
Recreation
Council approved a recommendation to renew the contract with What the Fudge to operate the canteen at the Paul J. Yakabuski Community Centre for the 2026/27 season. The company will pay a rental fee of $510 per month, which includes a two per cent increase consistent with other recent fee increases.
The 40th edition of the annual artisan festival happens July 11 and the county-run Taste of the Valley event returns in 2026 on Aug. 8.
Recreation Manager Hannah Gutoskie informed council of a change to an event area for 2026. Previously roads through Opeongo Square have been closed for the Artisan Festival and Taste of the Valley. The township has received complaints from businesses in the area about the impact on their operations. As a result, the township will only close Stafford Street from Mahon Street to Highway 60.
Maika asked Gutoskie to confirm with the Renfrew County Paramedic Service that closing Stafford Street would not affect ambulance services.
Landline telephones
The Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is considering eliminating landline telephone service according to a brief from the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA).
Chief Administrative Officer Suzanne Klatt included the brief in her report to council. ROMA encouraged the CRTC to engage with rural municipalities about the impact of such a move.
Neuman a raised the issue, noting the number of local residents who continue to use landlines and who do not have adequate cell service to use a cell phone as the main communication tool.
“I think that’s important that we keep track of that one because, you know, people don’t have landlines, they have no communication because not everybody has a cell phone and not everybody can get a cell phone access,” the councillor explained.
Maika asked that the township send a letter to Bell Canada expressing concern about the importance of landlines in rural areas.
robert@thevalleygazette.ca
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