Tag Archives: Carling

wet Dreams? Part 3

04 Sunday Feb 2018

Posted by in Budget/Financial, Parry Sound, Reflections

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Swimming in Numbers.

In the end it’s about the numbers. There is no question in my mind that there is no one against a pool, aquatic centre or athletic complex on the basis of its contribution to the community. There may have been people for and against the Walmart on principle and not numbers. And there were people for and against fluoridation, and the numbers didn’t really matter. In the case of a pool it’s all about the numbers at the council level.

Let’s start with some numbers. These numbers can be used to tell any number of stories, but we will focus on only a couple that are relevant to a municipal pool.

The numbers in the table above are derived from a few sources, notably StatCan, MPAC, and individual municipal budgets and tax rate bylaws. The Occupied Home figures from StatCan, basically tells you how many of the properties are not used seasonally, that is they are residents and not cottagers. The MPAC Values represent the property values in the various municipalities. To make things a little easier to digest I have normalized the figures with the Town of Parry Sound being set at 1. That means all of the properties in Seguin have about four times the values of those in Parry Sound. McKellar property values total about four fifths that of Parry Sound. Some of these numbers may be surprising. Tax rates are similarly expressed relative to those of Parry Sound. For example, a person in Parry Sound paying $2,000 of municipal tax on their property would pay $540 in Seguin for a property with a similar MPAC assessed property value, $740 in McKellar and $880 in McDougall. This does not include the education tax levy which is the same in each municipality. The education portion represents about 10% of my total tax bill in Parry Sound but would represent about 35% of the tax bill of someone in Seguin or the Archipelago. We pay exactly the same rate for education taxes, but it ‘hurts’ more in a relative sense in the other municipalities.

If this is the financial backdrop for a pool project, it’s important to understand the implications for each of the municipalities. I have a pretty good idea of the more important considerations in Parry Sound and will imagine some of the dynamics and concerns in the other municipalities. At this point Carling, McDougall and the Archipelago have expressed initial interest in a municipal pool project. McKellar has declined to participate. Seguin has not yet responded as far as a I know, and I believe Parry Sound has not committed but is likely to agree to participate in looking at the options.

Town of Parry Sound

Parry Sound Town Council is generally in favour of a pool if it can be done as part of an equitable long-term sharing agreement with the other municipalities. Going alone would increase the Town levied taxes by about 12% as mentioned in an earlier post, and these taxes are already four-times that of Seguin and the Archipelago.

The Town is likely to have other concerns that would need to be addressed in any agreement. It’s obvious the pool would need to be in Parry Sound, if only for access to a secure supply of treated water. None of the other communities would be able to provide this service and the cost of building and operating a treatment facility would make the pool project too expensive. But, the Town has concerns about losing a portion of its water treatment capacity to a project that will not generate revenue. Who pays for additional capacity if at a later date capacity equivalent to that used by the pool is required for development?

There is also the prospect of losing prime real estate to another project that will not generate property taxes. The Town now has more than two dozen facilities occupying prime real estate that don’t pay taxes. This includes churches as well as social service and medical service providers. These groups enhance the quality of life for Parry Sounders, but they also enhance the quality of life of those in the surrounding communities. These facilities make use of, and raise the cost of, tax subsidized services, increasing the load on tax payers of Parry Sound.

Would a consortium of municipalities be willing to give Parry Sound a credit on the tax assessed value of a municipal pool? Assuming an ‘assessed’ value of $11+ million for a pool would suggest that if it were a business or residential property it would pay about $150,000 in annual municipal taxes. Would the consortium be willing to credit the Town that amount against their contribution? Oh, oh, I hear the howls already!

For Parry Sound a pool is not that interesting unless acceptable terms were negotiated. What might be acceptable to Parry Sound might not be acceptable to its neighbours.

The Archipelago and Seguin

I am lumping these two together because they largely share the same interests, although they might not share the same ways of thinking.

Issue one is the tax payer. The majority of Seguin and Archipelago taxes are paid for by seasonal property owners. What they want is limited services and low taxes. They are paying two sets of taxes, one for their home in ‘Hogtown’, and another for their cottage in ‘God’s Country’. They don’t need a pool, they have one they are already paying for back home. These are informed folks who do not want to pay for anything more than is absolutely necessary to ensure a road to their cottage, and rules to prevent their neighbour from building a bigger dock or ‘bunkie’ than they have. And when it comes to roads they are already paying for that last ‘mile’ of driveway to access their ‘cottage’.

There are still folks in both municipalities who live, work, and contribute to the larger West Parry Sound community. In principle, they probably would like a pool, but not if it costs that much. It’s a bit different depending on whether you live in The Archipelago or Seguin. Archipelago residents really have only one choice where to go for shopping and services – Parry Sound. Sudbury, Huntsville and Bracebridge are a bit too far. For Seguinites it’s a bit more nuanced. Given the proximity of Huntsville and especially Bracebridge, it becomes a toss-up as to whether you drive to either one of those towns or Parry Sound. It may not even be a toss-up for those in Rosseau. Once you’re in Bracebridge for a pool you have more options in terms of their recreation centre and shopping. Pay more taxes for a pool in Parry Sound that you won’t use? The eastern Seguinites will probably say no. For those in Orrville a Parry Sound pool might be desirable, if they think they will use a pool. Not all will. The situation for Archipelagians is more obvious if they want a pool. That may be why they have expressed initial interest in a community pool discussion.

Both communities offer their seasonal residents the lowest taxes possible. These are the municipalities that boast multiple multimillion dollar properties. A quick look online revealed numerous, and I mean numerous, properties with valuations in excess of $5 million each in Seguin. That $5 million dollar ‘cottage’ would pay about $18,000 in Seguin taxes (not including education taxes). Raising their taxes 2% would mean an additional $360 in taxes. That might mean foregoing a couple less bottles of fine wine, probably very fine wine. When you make this type of money though, a dollar spent on something you really don’t want hurts more than you might imagine. And if it hurts they squeal. With a ward system they have ears to squeal into.

Carling and McKellar

I’m lumping these together to save words even though McKellar has declined participation. The situation these municipalities share is similar. Heading off to Sudbury or Muskoka for a pool is not really practical. At the same time, they both have more than two-thirds of their property value owned by seasonal residents and face the same issues discussed with regard to Seguin and the Archipelago.

The property values in both of these municipalities approach but don’t come consistently close to the stratified values of the Seguin and Archipelago properties. Seasonal residents of both municipalities are likely to pushback against any increase. Perhaps in anticipation of this McKellar’s council has already declared their lack of interest and retreated to their bunker.

McDougall

McDougall is much like Parry Sound in many ways, but not all. If you have driven along Big Sound Road you realize that there are a number of million dollar plus properties, just not the multimillion properties of Seguin and the Archipelago. Parry Sound does not have these types of properties, which may explain why the ‘rich folk’ who work in Parry Sound don’t live in Parry Sound. Taxes in McDougall are also the highest in the area, but still less than half of Parry Sound’s. It’s an easy ride from McDougall, at least the major population centre of Nobel, to Parry Sound for shopping and making use of a municipal pool.

Who Pays What?

This will certainly be a point of discussion and probably disagreement. Do you share expenses on the basis of permanent population, seasonal plus permanent population, private dwelling numbers, or MPAC assessment? I’m sure the lower tax municipalities, with higher assessment values and lower populations, would prefer a population-based sharing. Parry Sound would prefer an assessment-based allocation.

Both methods of allocation are currently being used. Belvedere Heights allocates municipal contributions on the basis of MPAC assessed property values. By this measure Parry Sound, The Archipelago, McDougall and McKellar all pay about the same, plus/minus $15,000. Carling pays about $40,000 more and Seguin pays about four-times as much. This is because Seguin in particular has a massive assessment base with all of those multimillion dollar ‘cottages’.

The Reginal Health Unit on the other hand allocates municipal contributions on the basis of the MPAC 2014 population count. This makes the Town of Parry Sound the largest contributor, while the Archipelago pays next to nothing. This makes sense as health services are delivered on a per person basis, although it is likely our ‘summer visitors’ and cottagers make considerable use of the hospital, albeit not so much the health unit services.

Playing Arbitrage

The situation with McKellar is interesting to think about. They have expressed no interest in a community pool, but could we deny McKellar residents the right to use the pool? Probably not. We would just need to charge a premium for those who want to use the pool but whose municipality doesn’t provide support. It’s a tricky situation. We are likely to have visitors interested in using a pool. Some will be tourists with no relation to the community and there will be others who are friends or family of area residents whose municipalities contribute to the pool. Charge too much and the Town looks like a money grabbing community, charge too little and it will make it cheaper for other municipalities and their residents to not participate in supporting the community pool. But then again, any additional revenue is probably ‘profit’. What is the additional cost of ten visitors compared to the corresponding dollars of non-resident income?

Let’s look at the McKellar situation as an example of what communities might want to think about. If McKellar were to participate in the pool they would probably be on the hook for about $85,000 per year (permanent population basis). That would raise their taxes by a bit less than 1.5%. On a property value basis, let’ assume that for a $250,000 property, not a high-end cottage, this would amount to an increase of about $18 per year. In exchange for this the resident could purchase an annual pool pass for let’s say $1,000. Also assume the non-resident rate is $1,400, a 40% premium. For that person having McKellar in the consortium is a big savings. It’s likely that it would be a break-even event for residents if they were only to use the pool twice a year and pay a resident as opposed to non-resident single visit rate.

What about McKellar as a whole. I would be surprised that if more than 30 pool memberships were sold to McKellar residents. That would bring in $30,000 of revenue as a ‘resident’. The non-resident rate would bring in $42,000, a difference of $12,000. That’s not close to the $85,000 it would cost McKellar to participate in the consortium. McKellar would be better off reimbursing pool users the $400 cost of a non-resident membership. It would raise taxes only a fraction of a percent if the amount couldn’t be found in petty cash.

That’s what arbitrage is all about, capturing profit by exploiting the difference between prices in different markets. In theory at least, it could work to the benefit of a community like McKellar to sit outside. It would be hard to refuse McKellar residents access to the pool because McKellar isn’t party to the pool partnership or charge them the appropriate premium to cover the real benefit they are receiving.

Final Thoughts

The numbers and the individual interests of municipalities are what will drive the decision. Understand the numbers and you can perhaps better anticipate and address concerns at your local municipal level.

There is also a social issue that needs to be addressed. A municipal pool is not like roads or health services that we all use in one way or another, even if we don’t have a car or never get sick. I’ll take a look at that in the next and final installment.

 

 

 

 

Wet Dreams? Part 2

02 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by in Budget/Financial, Parry Sound, Reflections

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In this post I examine the likely costs of a municipal ‘pool’ for the area. I don’t discuss the impact of any costs on individual municipalities in this post. the focus is on the likely costs to build and operate a pool.

I can assure you that any numbers I present will be wrong. I am not doing an in-depth cost analysis; that is best left to an experienced consultant. My estimates are based on figures I believe to be credible and reasonable. As appropriate, I provide links. That qualification of being wrong doesn’t mean you should dismiss the analysis if you disagree with it or embrace it unquestioningly if you agree. It’s an estimate and the basis for constructive discussion. Looking at the numbers also helps identify issues that are worth discussing and digging into. There will be two more posts on this topic so assume that the more obvious questions and implications of this analysis will be discussed in a later post.

Cost Estimates – Introduction

Building and operating a pool comes with four sets of expenses. The Build. Annual Operating Costs. Programming Costs. Reserve Fund.

There is also Revenue to consider, unrelated to property tax implications. That is discussed in this post as well.

The Build

I will toss out the number of $11 million to build a swimming pool. This is based on an article from 2013 concerning a pool being considered by the community of Exeter in Southwestern Ontario. The estimate for their pool was $9-13 million. I have taken the midpoint and ignored inflationary increases over the past 5 years. This is for an indoor pool, not an aquatic centre.

This seems to be a reasonable, albeit conservative estimate, in my opinion. I note that the Town of Parry Sound will be investing $1.2 million in the Stockey Centre just for new siding and a metal roof. A replacement of the ice surface at the Bobby Orr Community Centre also comes in at $1.2 million. The Stockey Centre cost $12 million to build in 2002, about $16.5 million in 2018 dollars. The retaining wall rebuild along Bowes Street cost about $200,000. This was the replacement of an existing wall that was less than 100 metres in total length and varied from ground level to no more than 2.5 metres in height. Things are remarkably expensive when you start moving earth.

It’s possible to lowball costs and take a cheaper path, but that always comes back to bite as we have learned in Parry Sound. That $1.2 million upgrade at the Stockey Centre is required because the current roof leaks and needs to be replaced. And the siding at the Stockey Centre hasn’t held up as well as promised. In the case of the Bobby Orr Community Centre, the town was required to spend tens of thousands to repair/replace/upgrade the heating in the stands. The BOCC roof will cost thousands more to repair/replace/upgrade. It’s possible to do things on the cheap, but it usually turns out to be a mistake.

So, let’s work with $11 million to build a municipal pool. This is for a 25 metre five lane pool, no high diving area, and no separate children’s pool. Certainly no separate fitness area.

None of the local communities, certainly not the Town of Parry Sound, can afford to pay $11 million upfront for a new pool so we need a debenture. There are many considerations in estimating the cost of a debenture, but what the heck, let’s go for it.

The first thing to be decided is the length of the debenture. I understand this generally is the expected lifetime of the facility. An indoor pool is different than most other buildings. The humidity and pool chemicals have a profoundly negative impact on longevity. A pool can last longer than 20 to 30 years, but the maintenance costs rise substantially as the pool ages. For the purpose of our discussion I will optimistically assume a 30-year bond.

An $11 million, 30-year, bond will cost about $700,000 per year at an interest rate of 3.5%. This 3.5% rate seems to be a reasonable, albeit optimistic, figure. Over the length of the loan the pool would have cost $21 million, or about twice the initial cost. That’s not too bad for the privilege of stretching it out over thirty years. It’s likely that inflation will average more than 3.5% over this period. People too easily forget the 1980s and the 10-15% interest rates people paid for mortgages.

If we drop the repayment period to 20 years, the annual cost rises to about $750,000. Keeping the period at 30 years and using a 5% interest rate raises the annual payments to $870,000.

Operating Costs

This is perhaps the weakest part of this analysis and most subject to correction. Nonetheless, the costs can be approached from a couple of different directions with results that hopefully come close.

There is some public information available regarding operating costs. The article mentioned earlier estimates operating costs at about $450,000 in 2013 dollars for a pool that should meet Parry Sound’s needs. Inflated to 2018 this number rises to about $480,000. These figures reflect post user revenue. So, the numbers need to be increased accordingly. Adding in $220,000 for user related offsetting revenue raises the annual operating costs rise to about $700,000. Looking more closely at the article the costs could be higher or lower by $100,000.

Another way to estimate the costs is to look at the cost to operate the Bobby Orr Community Centre, for which we have figures. There is a huge difference between the two in terms of costs. The BOCC only actively operates for a bit more than half the year with an ice pad. For the other months the building is maintained and available for public use, but with much lower expenses. A pool in contrast needs to be actively maintained 12 months a year. While an ice pad, once in place, mostly stays that way, a pool probably needs to be refreshed several times a year with a much higher use of water. Pools also require chemicals. But they don’t require a Zamboni type machine.

Reviewing the 2018 Town of Parry Sound budget documents I see that the BOCC has expenses in 2017 estimated at $700,000 and revenues of $180,000, for a net of $500,000 (don’t worry about the arithmetic, it only needs to be close because it certainly won’t be correct). The Stockey Centre had estimated operating costs of $1.5 million in 2017.

Okay, let’s go with $700,000 for the annual operating expenses for a municipal pool. This seems a bit low in comparison with the Bobby Orr Community Centre expenses, but it’s an estimate.

Some guidance is offered by looking at the Bracebridge 2017 Budget figures for their Sportsplex. This is a much larger operation and has annual expenses of $1.6 million, including the facility’s debenture principal and interest of about $640,000. This debenture figure is lower than I would have thought, but it may have been lowered by upper level government grants, which is also possible for a pool in the Parry Sound area. Operating expenses then were about $1 million. The two largest items were wages ($330,000) and hydro ($260,000).

Programming Costs

If you have a pool you need to offer programming. This ranges from management, to instructors, to life guards. I wanted to exclude a person to lead the programming activity as there is already such a person in Parry Sound, but if this is a joint municipality project we need to add in a programming head who also keeps an eye on the operations and makes sure things don’t screw up.

Let’s add in about $150,000 for programming costs. This would include 0.5 FTE to oversee the pool operation and programming as well as instructors and life guards. As a reference point the Town of Parry Sound spent a little more than $60,000 for their outdoor Swim Program in 2017 that stretches no more than three months.

Reserve Fund

It would only be prudent to add in another $100,000 per year to a Reserve Fund for the pool. This is what’s suggested in the 2013 Exeter article, and while a little low it’s close enough.

Total Expenses

Adding together all of the costs for a pool we end up with annual expenses of about $1.5 million. If you add together the expenses I’ve estimated in the earlier sections, you will see that I’ve rounded it down a bit. It only needs to be close and I’d rather not be seen as trying to stick a knife in the project.

But, that’s only part of the total package. There will be revenue and there are likely to be grants. We can depend on user fees, so let’s take a look at them. Upper level government grants are a different issue that are likely and not guaranteed. Local fund raising is possible, but it will represent a drop in the bucket. I have rounded down the expenses in part, so let’s forget about local fund raising being a meaningful dollar contributor. It’s more likely to be a symbolic statement of support than a financial pillar upon which to build the argument for a pool.

There is also the possibility of a partnership with the YMCA or the school board. One has expressed interest, and the other hasn’t. Neither would really change the costs, nor what we would pay in our taxes. The YMCA still needs to get money to pay their part, either grants or user fees, and the school board would probably just raise the education portion of our taxes to pay their part. I may be pessimistic, but beyond some operational efficiencies in a partnership, these groups won’t improve the bottom line in terms of tax impact. Expenses don’t just disappear, and revenues don’t just appear.

Revenues

This is a bit trickier, because it assumes a price structure for pool use. The only indirect experience I have is with the Sudbury Y. It offers a full family membership, including pool use, for $1,200 per year. The Bracebridge pool offers family pool use for a specified 45-minute period each Saturday for 3 months for about $60. That adds up to about $240 per year. And that is for one 45-minute period on one defined day per week. In Barrie it’s $17 per family per visit. Once a month would be $200 per year, once a week would be $900 per year.

Okay, let’s go with the annual use fee from that Exeter 2013 article of $1,000 per year per family. What that offers in terms of pool access is not clear. The article also mentions a total of 300 memberships, and $300,000 in revenue. All of those numbers carry much more baggage than I want to discuss in this post. I’ll get to that in the last of this four-post series. For now, we’ll assume $300,000 in revenue, the equivalent about 20,000 family days of use at $15/day.

The Net/Net

Add the numbers together and we end up with a net cost of $1.2 million per year for a municipal pool, not an aquatic centre or recreational complex. That is before any upper level government grants.

If the Town of Parry Sound was to shoulder the full expense Town taxes would increase by about 12%. It would be a one-time increase that would carry forward, but unlike the infrastructure reserve expense it would not be increased each year.

Next

In the next post I’ll take a look at the various municipalities, their assessments, their tax rates, their ‘demographics’ and the local political issues that might impact any decision or support for a municipal pool. The last post will be the most interesting in my opinion as I consider some of the human aspects of a municipal pool, particularly how it might impact different segments of the community.

Hang tight Ryan. The next post should be up by the middle of this coming week.

 

 

Wet Dreams? Part 1

01 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by in Parry Sound, Reflections, Urban Development

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In a series of four articles I will try and lay out some of the more obvious issues concerning a municipal pool in the Greater Parry Sound area. I will alternatively refer to this as ‘pool’, ‘aquatic centre’ or ‘recreational complex’. There is a difference between the three terms that may come into play in the discussion. A pool is something we already have in Parry Sound and in the local area, by my count at least three in local hotels. These are rather modest facilities, in some regards not much more than ‘super-sized’ hot tubs that provide a valuable service to many in the community. The next step up in terms of size and facilities is an aquatic centre. I would imagine that this might include two pools, one for more exercise-oriented use that could host competitive meets, and the other targeted to recreational use, perhaps with an extended shallow area for children. It might also have a diving pool. I imagine that a recreational complex would combine an aquatic centre with a full gymnasium or exercise centre. Big – Bigger – Biggest.

At this point in the process I have shifted my position on the desirability of a pool to one of neutral. I have in the past suggested that a pool is not something the Town needs, even if it wants it. That position was based on my research into the costs and my observations on how the various communities were cooperating. Why bother to even consider a pool if the costs would be very high and there was little prospect for regional cooperation. It seems that in the past couple of years there has been a shift to more cooperation, in principle at least, when it comes to the issue of an aquatic centre that can be used and shared by the area municipalities.

The issue of cost remains the biggest issue and will be the topic of a separate post. If a pool was ‘free’, and let’s remember nothing is actually ‘free’, it seems to me that the plans for a pool would be underway, if the pool were not already built.

I will relate my thinking about the cost of a pool to my thinking about personally purchasing, servicing and enjoying a Porsche. I don’t own a Porsche for many of the same reasons we don’t have a municipal pool already. In both cases somebody needs to come up with the cash for the initial purchase/build. Since neither of us could afford a Porsche or a pool from our bank accounts we would need to take out a loan. The question would be whether we could afford the monthly payments. In the case of the Town they could. It might mean raising taxes or deferring other infrastructure projects. In the case of my new Porsche it would mean taking on a second job or cutting expenses. Perhaps I could sell my property and move to Carling or Seguin where I would save thousands annually on taxes but still have access to Parry Sound services. Though, perhaps not the high speed internet access I need for work. Dang, not an easy solution but perhaps the Province and the Feds will build the internet structure I would need. But that’s another issue that only confuses the discussion of a pool.

So, even if I could make the necessary sacrifices to buy a Porsche I would need to face the operating expenses. It’s a Porsche, so it wouldn’t be cheap. Expenses that would require more income or additional sacrifices. Annual operating expenses is probably the biggest issue for any aquatic centre, recreational complex or municipal pool. In the case of Parry Sound that would mean raising taxes or cutting back on other services. Perhaps we could get folks to agree to reduced snow removal services.

But, if three friends in the area were to go in on the purchase of Porsche Boxster I might be able to swing it. Cutting the upfront and ongoing costs by three quarters might make it manageable. I really wouldn’t need it full time. It’s not practical in winter, so I would still need my Honda Civic. Having access to the Boxster a couple days a week would be more than acceptable, especially if one of my neighbours would keep it in their garage. Hmmm! Seems like something I might be interested in. I would of course be much more interested if one of my neighbours were to buy the Porsche and let me use it for ‘gas money’.

I think that’s not an unreasonable analogy for the issues underlying a municipally owned and operated pool. I wonder if it would be easier to find three other people to chip in for a Porsche than get the local municipalities to chip for a pool. Each of the local municipalities has their own concerns that range from land use to infrastructure demands to cost. But I’m getting ahead of myself, more on this in future posts.

My bottom line is that I’m very much okay with the idea of a pool, aquatic centre or recreational complex if it doesn’t cost me anything in capital or operating costs. I’m probably still okay if the tax payer related costs were minimal and users would be responsible for the larger part of the expenses. I’m not that interested in using a pool. That’s just not what I’m interested in. If I want to get wet I can use one of the local beaches. If I want to exercise I can bike, walk, hike, ski or snowshoe depending on the season. I suspect that’s one of the reasons people have concerns about a municipally supported pool. They may feel they will be paying for a resource they don’t use. Not everyone who pays for the pool will use the pool.

That’s the case for me with the Stockey Centre and the Bobby Orr Community Centre. I don’t use them. At this point these two facilities cost the taxpayers of Parry Sound more than $500,000 per year and the Town is now preparing to put in another $2 to $3 million in necessary renovations and repairs. These costs will need to be paid for with a bond paid off over 20 years that will add to the current $500,000 in costs. It’s not the case with a hospital. Everyone hopes they don’t use it but are willing to pay for it to be there if and when they do need it. Let’s realize that a municipal pool is a quality of life expense, like my Porsche.

Actually, the Porsche analogy isn’t really appropriate. I don’t want a Porsche at any cost. A pool? A pool I might be okay with. It depends on the cost

The next post will offer some back of the envelope calculations on the cost to build and operate a pool. They won’t be right, but they’ll be closer to right than wrong.

 

 

 

2016 Sunshine List Mashup

05 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by in Budget/Financial, Parry Sound, Reflections

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Or, fun with figures.

I wasn’t going to post about the recently released 2016 Sunshine list, but I was ‘egged’ into it. I really don’t have a problem with what people are paid as long as they are doing their job and they are earning what they are paid. Given my regular interaction with the senior staff in Parry Sound I won’t complain. They seem to be ‘earning their pay’.

More interesting I thought was to look at how the 2016 Sunshine List looks across the West Parry Sound District, and what it reflects. Mashing together the 2016 Sunshine List and the recent 2016 Census figures provided for some interesting insights. Here are the figures, with some explanation. (Apologies to Whitestone for being excluded.)

(Click on any of the tables for a larger view.)

The table above summarizes the combined salaries and benefit figures reported for the area municipalities. Each of the municipalities uses slightly different titles for the various senior management positions so I have associated them to the best of my abilities. In the case of the Archipelago and Parry Sound there are a couple of positions that don’t fit the standard categories, these are Corporate Services and Emergency and Protective Services respectively.

This next table relates the cost for each position as a function of fulltime residences. It reveals a number of significant discrepancies in terms of the cost of all Sunshine List senior staff for municipalities, from a low of $47 per person, to a high of $1,167. But this is really not a fair comparison as some of the municipalities have far more seasonal than fulltime residents. Unfortunately, the census data doesn’t provide information on seasonal resident numbers. So let’s look at the same Salaries & Benefits figures as a function of the total Private Dwellings in each municipality. This includes both fulltime and seasonal properties.

This figure is closer to a reasonable estimate of Sunshine List ‘efficiency’, but it does not include the impact of businesses. If the number of business properties were to be included I suspect that Parry Sound would show a much more favourable ‘efficiency factor’.

So there are the 2016 Sunshine List figures with a little bit of analysis. A set of figures from the 2016 Census report that a I found interesting relates to municipality fulltime population and the number of private  dwellings (below). The numbers range from a high of 5.1 dwellings per person (Archipelago), to a low of 0.5 dwellings per person in Parry Sound. The difference obviously is the large number of seasonal residences in the Archipelago, Carling and McKellar. Those simple figures tell you everything you need to know about why amalgamation will not be something the municipalities spontaneously decide to do. It’s possible to imagine a Parry Sound and McDougall amalgamation, and perhaps an Archipelago and Carling amalgamation if they wanted to get better efficiency. The ‘business models’ are reasonably aligned. But don’t even think about it, much less talk about it. It’s a bit like integration in the U.S. South in the 60s. It took Federal legislation to make that happen. In the case of West Parry Sound it will take Provincial legislation. With Bay Street just a short walk away from the Provincial Legislature it’s – not – going – to – happen. Ever!

Notes:

  1. The 2016 Sunshine list is a bit of a bear to work with. I didn’t come across a simple PDF version as in earlier years. It’s available as a variety of data dumps. The easiest in my opinion was the CSV format file that can be searched with Excel.
  2. The municipalities that have only a single person hitting the Sunshine List may well have personnel just under the $100,000 cutoff, who would not be included in this report.
  3. It’s interesting to see how many police officers are on the Sunshine List. In the end, I think our neighbouring municipalities took the prudent course of action by biting the bullet and continuing on with OPP service.

 

REDAC Regional Market Plan Reflections

10 Saturday Sep 2016

Posted by in Parry Sound, Reflections, Seguin Township

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A few thoughts after reviewing the REDAC Regional Marketing Plan issued June 2016.

Positives:

  1. The report was not too shy in identifying some of the issues and challenges facing the region in terms of increasing economic development.
  2. There was a clear understanding that it is one thing to prepare a plan, and another to fund and effectively implement the plan.
  3. The plan appropriately identified the need for monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of any marketing programs.

Oversights:

Several meaningful issues were overlooked in the report. Was it a case of simply not recognizing the issues, or was it a case of ‘sweeping it under the carpet’. My sense of some important points that were overlooked:

  1. Services
  2. Tax differentials
  3. Housing value
  4. Railways

Services:

The services available to homeowners and businesses varies considerably throughout the area studied in the REDAC report (Parry Sound, McDougall, Seguin, and Carling). These include:

  • Municipal water
  • Municipal sewer
  • Natural gas

There was mention of the need for better internet connectivity. For the most part it’s not that big an issue except at the residential level. Wireless service is actually quite good, and for businesses it is not an unreasonable expense if it impacts business and profitability. They aren’t streaming video at work. Businesses out in the backwoods of the region really can’t expect ‘fibre’ type service, and if they really needed it they would not be located where they are. Homeowners who want to stream video at home have an issue as wireless can be expensive. Better, actually mostly cheaper, internet services are a nice to have that would help attract people and businesses to the area.

Real businesses that employ people and serve customers on site, not the retired consultant type shop, need water and sewer service. Yes, a well and septic bed can do the job, but it raises an unreasonable burden of effort for businesses that have other things to think about. Think about the new high school to be built in the area. Will they locate somewhere that depends on wells and sewers? Perhaps, but given their preferences they would rather not be doing weekly water tests to make sure the kids aren’t drinking contaminated water following that big rain. And how big a septic bed is needed for a high school of 1,000 students? Right, just about the size of a football or soccer field.

A bigger issue is the availability of natural gas. Electricity is expensive, especially for uses like heating. Natural gas is remarkably inexpensive, but it requires an infrastructure that is only available in Parry Sound and a relatively select number of addresses in the other municipalities. Propane is an option, but it’s not nearly as cheap or convenient as natural gas. I suspect a large number of people who installed electric baseboards when electricity was cheap regret not putting in more insulation, or installing a furnace and ducting that could be used with propane, a heat pump, or natural gas when it arrived along their road.

Tax Differentials:

The tax rates on property in the five municipalities vary about three-fold, with Seguin at the low end and Parry Sound at the top. Taxes reflect a balance of what services municipal residents and business want to receive and how much they are willing to pay for them. The lower taxes in the surrounding regions do not arise from happenstance, they reflect the interests of the taxpayers.

Municipalities like the Town of Parry Sound are stretched in terms of the taxes they can collect and the services they are expected to deliver. Adding new taxable residents and businesses is a priority as much of the infrastructure is already established and any increased revenues from new residents and businesses would be ‘profitable’, and help support necessary infrastructure upgrades for all. Economic development that leads to increased property values is very much in the interests of Parry Sound. The only real revenue the Town has is from the taxation of property and government grants.

The other municipalities do not have the same needs for more development and greater tax revenues. This is reflected in their lower tax rates. Economic development is something that is nice to talk about, because it reflects positively on councils. But do they really want it? Is it possible that more development will lead to a requirement for new services that might mean higher tax rates? Nobody likes to raise property taxes, especially if your municipality depends on being the low tax provider.

I think the residents of these municipalities would rather not promote development. Many of them like it the way it is. Seasonal residents are complaining about the development of certain lakes and are calling for a moratorium on new cottages. And I’m not sure that people really like the idea of losing the small town, or cottage area, feeling that comes with more development. If permanent and seasonal residents can enjoy low taxes and the services of a town like Parry Sound next door or Bracebridge a little further away, why do they need more ‘economic development’? There is no benefit, only the potential for change and higher taxes.

The tax differential between municipalities drives much more than was ever suggested in the REDAC report.

Substandard Housing Value:

This mostly applies to the Town of Parry Sound. Housing in Parry Sound is by Toronto standards cheap;  but it is a poor value. There are any number of reasons for this, none of which are easily fixed by politicians. In more affluent regions many of these houses would be leveled and replaced with the types of housing that young families need and can afford. The development of well-designed condo facilities offers some hope for better value housing in Parry Sound, but this type of housing will not appeal to those with families who want a backyard. They can get that type of housing in the Barrie, Orillia and Owen Sound areas, where there are also the jobs to support the associated cost of this housing. Chicken and egg, or egg and chicken?

The Railways:

Again mostly a Parry Sound issue. Canadian National and Canadian Pacific together run about twenty or more heavy freight trains through Parry Sound every day and represent a serious deterrent to business investment and residential development. Not surprisingly, the most substantial recent residential development, Silver Birch, is located far from the railway tracks. Bt it comes at a price, Highway 400 with it’s noisy weekend summer traffic. One development in Parry Sound close to the tracks, and subject to crossings that see trains going both ways, has struggled despite offering attractive ‘Southern Ontario’ single family homes. The issue is not just the risk of a Lac Megantic type event, or even the occasional road blockages, it’s the day-in, day-out, sound of air horns blasting at six crossings and the squeal of the wheels as they round the many curves, day and night. Why build a business in Parry Sound if you can build in Seguin or McDougall?  Oh, there’s the issue of services and infrastructure. Why not just go to communities like Orillia, Barrie and the ‘suburban’ areas of Muskoka, where you are not subject to trains in the same manner and you have access to more customers (retail and service), cheaper transport costs (manufacturing), and a larger employment pool?

 

Parry Sound Bay and Beyond can become an attractive destination for both people and businesses. The trouble is that there are too many other Southern Ontario municipalities that are already much more attractive. Once these destinations reach their limit to host businesses and new homes people will begin to look at Parry Sound Bay and Beyond. That is unless we can get our act together, work together, and create the infrastructure to compete. But area municipalities, with the exception of Parry Sound have more than enough money to continue operating as they have for the last twenty years, for another twenty years, without attracting any new residents or businesses. These municipalities have little motivation to do anything new. They just need to pretend to be interested lest permanent residents and businesses think they don’t play nicely with others.

Provincial and Federal civil servants are quite happy to facilitate and fund discussions of economic development in the West Parry Sound area. It their job to do it. And they are well paid jobs. By gosh they will do their best to get it done, regardless of the odds. It reminds me of the continuous negotiations in the Middle East between the Israelis and the Palestinians facilitated by the United States. The US State Department is tasked with getting a real agreement between these two parties and they try their best. It’s their job, even though there is no prospect of any type of agreement. At this point Israel has everything it needs in the region. It has the wealth, military strength and political influence to ensure nothing is taken from them. It is not in their interest to negotiate. Any appearance of willingness to negotiate is strictly a function of making nice with the President of the United States who gets it in their mind every now and then that they want to gain statesman status by brokering a grand peace agreement.

Final Thoughts

I started out this review of the REDAC Regional Marketing Plan expecting to be critical of Whitestone, McKellar and The Archipelago for not participating in the REDAC economic development process. Looking at things a little more closely I have come to realize that they are perhaps the only honest brokers in the region, willing to admit that not only do they not need regional cooperation, they are actually better off without it. I will give a pass also to the Town of Parry Sound. I believe they do support regional economic development because they desperately need the increased tax base to manage tax rates and support additional infrastructure necessary for the larger community.

Even Parry Sound tax rates are on the low end for Northern Ontario as was presented in a survey of Northern Ontario municipalities. I visited Elliot Lake in August and was impressed by the upkeep of the town and the facilities it offers. But it benefits from a population base about twice that of Parry Sound, a much larger geographic area (715 sq. km, versus 13 sq. km), and a tax rate 40% higher.

Regional economic development is something to keep Municipal, Provincial and Federal employees busy, and employed. If Ontario and Canada really want to see additional economic development in the area they need to provide incentives to McDougall and Seguin to hand over enough land to Parry Sound to allow for real economic development, by a municipality that is interested in economic development, and with established infrastructure. Incentives to McDougall and Seguin might include support for policing expenses, and/or broadband infrastructure, and/or an area athletic complex. But that would be a bribe I suppose. Given America’s experience with the billions they have pumped into the Middle East, I expect it wouldn’t work too well here. Take the money and run.

Aside: reading yesterday’s Beacon Star I saw that Seguin has started thinking about their 2017 budget. Their high priority items are summer weekend support for a nursing station in Rosseau, taking responsibility for unassumed roads, and a tennis court. All this with a potential 0% increase in taxes. Seguin is doing just fine with their current business model. Why take on development that might mean responsibility for building the services accompanying business and non-seasonal resident growth? It might mean tax increases and unfamiliar faces. That’s okay, the area municipalities have their cake and are able to eat it as well. They  seem to be riding as high on property values as were the Middle East oil kingdoms were when oil was $100 a barrel. As long as property valuation stay high, and seasonal residents don’t become permanent residents and expect Toronto level services, it’s all okay.

Mismatched Objectives, Taking Off and Heading to Port.
(Best to just get out of each other’s way.)

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Update: tracking down a link for the Beacon Star article I came across a squabble between Carling and the The Archipelago about phone bills. Yup, sure, let’s invest more in regional cooperation. (Not!) The Town of Parry Sound needs to take on a Singapore or Hong Kong frame of mind. Small is beautiful. It may not be cheap but it offers great value. Can we erect borders?

 

 

Council Meeting Reflections – February 16, 2016

17 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by in Parry Sound, Reflections, Town Council

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Like a good movie, last night’s meeting of Council saved the surprise until the very end. The surprise was a $180,000 levy shortfall for 2016 as a result of provincial legislation eliminating certain semi-public properties from property assessment. The change impacted the assessment for the Lakeland Long Term Care facility in Parry Sound. As a result, Council has decided to return to the budget process, with a meeting scheduled for March 2nd at 6:00 PM. Everything is back on the table for discussion. Those of you who have been following the budget process will remember that Council agonized about a $100,000 addition to the budget that led to a 3.16% levy increase. The $180,000 will have a proportionately larger impact. I applaud Council for deciding to take a step back and look at the big budget picture rather than fudge things by making adjustments to the reserves.

This is the second time in recent history that Council has been hit with a loss in tax revenue as a result of assessment adjustments. The Town has now lost more than $500,000 in annual revenue with the latest assessment change and the earlier reduction of the assessment for  the Big Box stores (Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Canadian Tire).

There are two themes here. The first is the Provincial and Federal decision to download more and more expenses to the municipalities. The decision regarding facilities like Lakeland Long Term Care will reduce the Province’s cost to support these facilities by shifting the burden to local communities. This then allows the Province to limit provincial tax increases, and look financially responsible, at the expense of the municipalities. The second theme concerns the load Parry Sound carries for the area municipalities. With very limited space, many of Parry Sound’s prime business and residential locations are dedicated to federal, provincial, and community services that pay reduced or no municipal taxes. Yet these facilities still need their streets cleaned and repaired, street lights operated, OPP services, and so on. The argument is that these facilities bring jobs that benefit the community by increasing local property revenue. But how many of the people who have these jobs actually live in the surrounding communities? It is in fact many more than our neighbouring municipalities would like to admit.

Perhaps our very ‘rich’ neighbours can pitch in and build an area recreation facility, aka ‘a pool’. It looks as though Parry Sound won’t be in any position to consider participating for some time to come. With little space to grow, Parry Sound will need to live with it’s current reality. Raising taxes really doesn’t make sense, the Parry Sound levy is already three times that of Seguin. That means a $200,000 home in Parry Sound might pay about $2,000 in annual property taxes while the same $200,000 property in Seguin would pay about $700. But with Parry Sound ‘just around the corner’ residents of Seguin, Carling and McDougall pretty much enjoy all the benefits of living in Parry Sound, but for much less. At least the OPP costing discrepancy is bit-by-bit being adjusted.

There was a larger crowd at last night’s meeting. The audience was there to confirm that Council was moving forward with the next step to eliminate fluoride from the Town’s water supply. “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead”? Well perhaps dead but not yet buried to the satisfaction of some. That burial is scheduled for next month. Will we see a raising of the dead in a couple of years? Hmm, Zombies are pretty popular nowadays. Revenge of the Fluoride Zombies? Stay tuned.

The Views are Free, Day and Night (Parry Sound in B&W)

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District Policing – Reaching Consensus

18 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by in Reflections, Safety, Seguin Township

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It seems that consensus is being reached among the regional municipalities to forego local policing. Instead, the communities will depend on the services of the Ontario Provincial Police, even if might be more expensive.

I agree with the decision, and I believe that investigating the alternatives was an important exercise. Without a clear idea of the costs and the implications it would have been an option that would have hung over the local municipalities. ‘Would we be better off with a local force? would it be cheaper? Well, maybe yes, and maybe no.’ It would have been a serious distraction to have left it hanging out there. At least the numbers and analysis have been completed and it seems there might be savings, there might not, but there was a guarantee of upfront investments, oversight requirements, and quite possibly headaches in the years to come.

I liken the situation to a person with a longer laneway who has benefited from their brother-in-law, a professional, plowing his snow for a well below market price, because well, he lives next-door and he wants to make sure his sister is able to get in and out safely. The brother-in-law moves away and the the husband finds out what it really costs to plow his laneway. His first thought is to get his own truck and blade. Yes, it would cost a bit upfront but it would save money in the long run. And it would be far more economical if he could defray his costs by plowing his neighbours’ laneways. He might need to take a loan, and there would be a need to store the equipment, repairs, the time to do the plowing, but by gosh he would be saving money.

Well, it might be cheaper if he can buy the equipment at a reasonable cost and his neighbours agree to participate. But he will now need to get up early and plow not only his snow, but that of his neighbours. And there probably won’t be a winter vacation, and …. And what if he finally decides he no longer wants to plow snow? How easy would it be to sell the equipment, and how much would he lose?

In the end I suspect that Township of Seguin Council and others realized there was more in the way of pain and liability than was offered by the potential savings. That was probably also the case with the other municipalities.

It needs to be remembered that the local municipalities were receiving below market pricing for their policing costs up until this year. It can be argued that the previous pricing was fair because these municipalities made limited use of policing services. That may be true, but it’s a little like health care coverage. Although I may not require the types of services that are used by many others I am still required to pay a similar amount in terms of federal and provincial taxes as those who do. It’s effectively an insurance plan and I consider myself fortunate that I only have to pay for coverage and not use the services. Going forward the OPP costs are now scaled to include basic ‘insurance’ and a ‘usage’ component. The less you require, the lower your policing bill. But there will always be a basic cost that is a function of your population. It’s like an automobile insurance policy with an annual premium and a deductible. Have too many accidents or tickets and your policy cost will go up. But even if you are a perfect and lucky driver you still will be paying more for your basic premium than you think is fair.

I take care of my own snow rather than use a service. The area is small, I can do a more careful job and at the same time protect the landscaping. I also have the time, and in the process get some exercise and save a few bucks. And I prefer to enjoy the snow rather than ‘get away’, so it all lines up. If I had a larger piece of property I would surely toy with the idea of getting bigger equipment, but I hope in the end I would make the right decision and hire a professional with the equipment to get the job done.

MetrolandMedia has good coverage of the policing issue at www.parrysound.com if you want to dig into the details.

Eyes Wide Open (Parry Sound in Colour)

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Municipal Policing – Mayberry or Ferguson?

24 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by in Reflections, Safety, Seguin Township

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The North Star has featured a series of well written articles in the past month concerning the deliberations at Sequin Township Council regarding the option of creating and operating a municipal police force. Seguin is hopeful that other area municipalities, particularly the deep-pocketed municipalities of Carling Township and The Archipelago, will join with them to share and defray the start up and ongoing operational costs of a municipal police force. Seguin is looking to save at least 20% of their eventual Ontario Provincial Police bill. The area municipalities have yet to feel the full impact of the OPP cost changes because the Province has decided to phase the increases in over a five-year period.

Here are some things the Staff, Council and residents of the surrounding municipalities may wish to consider as they debate and decide on local policing.

OPP protection is less a service than it is insurance. The insurance includes competent and capable policing that acts to deter crime. It’s like home insurance. After paying home insurance for more than thirty years, with no claims, it would perhaps have made better sense to self-insure. I would have saved a bundle of money over the past three decades. But would I have had the necessary protection if there were a major fire, or a flood, or a burglary? Could I have qualified for a mortgage without insurance? The municipalities make the argument that they have only a limited number of calls for the police per year and the effective cost per call is too high. Well if you keep your calls for service down you will have lower costs in the long run because the costing is calculated on a per resident charge plus a call for service formula.

Get over the sticker shock. The surrounding municipalities have been living a subsidized existence when it comes to policing costs. This was the reason for the revised two part cost formula implemented by the Province, a, a basic cost per residence (insurance cost) and a cost per incident (service cost). It’s like a service contract on a furnace where you pay a flat fee per year and that gets you a free cleaning, but you pay a deductible if you have a furnace problem and need extra service. The municipalities will still be paying less than that charged to the ‘lawless’ residents of Parry Sound with the new pricing model, and won’t have the ‘pleasure’ of OPP vehicles rushing through their towns to get to a neighbouring municipality.

Do-it-yourself may be more expensive. As expensive as it seems to establish a police force, it will cost even more to dissolve a police force. I have heard that the second happiest day of a boat owner’s life is the day they buy their boat. There are estimates that it will cost about $2 million to set up a municipal police force between the expenses for equipment and a new facility. That figure doesn’t seem to sit well with some members of Seguin Council and they think it’s too high. It’s not! I have yet to see a major project come in under budget. Budget for the $2 million, add in another 25% for unforeseen circumstances, and work like the devil to come in under budget. Don’t start with the thought that you can do it do it for even less. And remember, if you decide it doesn’t work the wind down costs would the same, or even more. Separation packages for police officers aren’t cheap, and specialized used equipment usually gets sold for 25 cents on the dollar.

Will the possible savings represent good value? That 20% savings Seguin is hoping for amounts to what, $250,000 or so annually? Yes that’s a big figure, and if your business model is to be the low cost, low service, municipality then you have a bit of a problem. So you will pay about $2 million upfront to perhaps save $250,000 per year. Hmm, that means an eight-year pay back not considering inflation. Add in even limited inflation and it gets to be ten years. Add in cost overruns and it more like twelve years. And if it doesn’t work out and you start getting the municipal police problems seen in too many small community police forces and you decide to wind it down. Ouch, ouch, ouch. But why not get a few of your neighbours to join in and share the pain, I means the savings?

Small police forces too often lead to big problems. An article in USA Today noted that small police forces don’t have the resources to provide qualified oversight, do proper training, and properly monitor performance. Read the article and don’t assume that Seguin is Mayberry and you will have Andy Griffith and Barney Fife running the show. Actually that might be a great example of the type of policing you will get, except this is real life, not a television script.

Someone needs to take responsibility. Do local councils really want the responsibility of managing a police force? In the case of Seguin, Carling and The Archipelago perhaps they have the time to keep a close eye on a police force in terms of costs and quality control. They don’t have much to worry about beyond road maintenance and making sure they don’t anger the seasonal residents by doing anything that might raise property taxes. Parry Sound Council has their hands full running a real town with real services in addition to managing services for the District. But hey, if the municipal policing thing really doesn’t work out the councillors can always choose to not run for reelection and let someone else clean up the mess.

I look forward to following the OPP deliberations at Seguin Township Council, and may even drop by for a couple of meetings. From what I have read things are starting to heat up. Why watch reality television, when you have council meetings? It’s not as scripted and there is no post production editing.

Handle With Care!

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Council Agenda Preview – June 2, 2015

01 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council

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The theme for Tuesday’s meeting is water. Water for drinking and water for swimming.

The Public Works report recommends that the Town stop fluoridating the Town’s water supply (9.3.2). The agenda includes a deputation by Dr. Jim Chirico, Medical Officer of Health, regarding fluoridation in the Town’s water supply (5.2). The content of the deputation was not included with the council meeting package. The Public Works opinion on fluoridation seems to boil down to the fact that they can’t make a recommendation on the basis of the medical or scientific information, but fluoridation is a cost to the Town and it is a challenge to implement. So if there is no clear medical reason to continue, they recommend stopping. There will be a period for public comment on the proposed change. I have an opinion, but it’s not worth sharing.

The other water related agenda item concerns a public pool. The Town is being asked to support a Carling Township initiative (5.2) requesting the Near North School Board consider including a pool and recreation complex with the future K-12 school. I have an opinion on the general merit of a pool that I shared in a post last week. Talk fortunately is cheap. Let’s pay more attention once it starts to get remotely serious. Internet for nothing and a pool for free? (Apologies to Dire Straits.) You can’t blame the municipalities for asking.

The Town also received a lengthy response from Canadian Pacific Railways in response to the Town’s concerns about crossing blockages and excessive speed. It’s worth reading but it’s only found in the full agenda package. It’s available upon request from the Town, or from this site at the ‘TOPS Agenda Packages’ page (see the top menu).

Sounding like a broken record, I suggest you at least review the Council agenda summaries available at the Town’s website before each meeting to see if there are items of importance to you and which weren’t covered in this preview post. You have the opportunity to make a short deputation at the council meeting if you want to express an opinion, or provide additional information, prior to Council discussion and vote. It’s harder to get things changed once they have been approved.

Correspondence

4.2 – Randy Marsh, Director, Government Affairs, CP Rail. Re: Response to Letter sent regarding track speeds, track maintenance and train braking systems. It’s long and it’s worth reading.

Deputations

5.1 – Brenda Ryan, Chair of the Waterfront Advisory Committee Re: Slide show presentation of Town Dock Improvements – Phase 1. The committee has been busy and it will be interesting to understand their vision and recommendations.

5.2 – Dr. Jim Chirico, Medical Officer of Health. Re: Fluoridation in the Parry Sound’s Drinking Water System. I suspect this presentation will support fluoridation, but let’s wait and see.

Consent Agenda

8.2 – Area Pool and Recreation Complex. Resolution. Whereas the Township of Carling has circulated a resolution in support of an opportunity to incorporate an area pool and recreation complex into the site planning for the new K-12 School which will serve not only the students the entire community of West Parry Sound, attached as Schedule “A”; Now Therefore Be It Resolved that the Town of Parry Sound supports the Township of Carling’s resolution and urges the other West Parry Sound Municipalities to join them in support of this and in requesting that the Near North Board of Education consider a process for collaboration regarding this concept; and Further that this resolution be copied to the Near North District School Board.

Resolutions and Direction To Staff

9.1.1 – Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program. Resolution. That Council of the Town of Parry Sound supports the joint application with the Municipality of McDougall, for funding under the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program for the Parry Sound to McDougall Trail Link Canada 150 Anniversary Project.

9.3.2 – Fluoride in Town’s Drinking Water. Direction. That Council direct staff to notify the Ministry of Health that it is the Town’s intention to cease adding fluoride to the Town of Parry Sound’s municipal water system, effective September 1, 2015; and That a 21 day Notice Period be invoked to provide the public an opportunity to provide input; and That the report and recommendation be considered at the July 7th Council meeting. That staff be directed to prepare a bylaw authorizing the ceasing of adding fluoride to the Town’s municipal water system. It would be a little cheaper to stop fluoridating (about one-third the cost of the hanging flower baskets), but would it be better, or even as good? That’s a question Council will be hard pressed to answer. I don’t think any of them have relevant medical or scientific training, and the Public Works report largely relates to the practical implementation of fluoridation, not its impact on health (for good or ill).

9.4.1. 9.4.2, 9.4.3 – Resolutions. Waterfront Advisory Committee Terms of Reference. Town Dock Improvements – Phase I. Big Sound Marina – Dock ‘B’ Redevelopment. A series of resolutions concerning the Waterfront. You’ll need to read the agenda package to get the details. There is movement and improvement.

By-laws

10.5.1 – Business Improvement Area (BIA) Levy By-Law. It’s up 5.8% this year. The cost will be on the order of $300 to $600 per building owner (probably more for those with multiple tenants and higher value). The council package has a summary of where the money is spent.

See you Tuesday night.

Going Grey. Fitting in with the Town’s ‘senior’ theme?
(Parry Sound in Four Colour)

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Finding Focus – The Parry Sound Strategic Plan

29 Friday May 2015

Posted by in Reflections, Town Council, Urban Development

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I attended the Parry Sound Strategic Plan focus group sessions this past Tuesday. There were about 45 participants, not including Staff and Council who were there to participate and/or facilitate the process. It lasted about three hours and included a discussion on six separate topics that were identified of particular interest from the earlier open house.

I thought the sessions were well-managed. The participants, even when they disagreed, were thoughtful and considerate of other opinions. All in all it was well done and should help with the strategic planning process. A draft plan is expected by the end of the summer, with the final Strategic Plan approved by yearend.

It was interesting to see that one of the six topics for discussion concerned a swimming pool complex. There is a surge of interest in the community, mostly from outside Parry Sound as I can tell, to build a swimming pool complex.

Personally I am neutral to negative on this initiative. In theory a pool would be quite nice. But like a puppy, pools come with long-term responsibilities and costs. A pool would probably cost on the order of $750,000 per year to operate, not including the initial capital costs, or annual inflation.

The question is who will pay for this. Participants who reside in the neighbouring communities were not unanimous in suggesting their municipality would support a pool with tax revenues. Information at the meeting suggested that perhaps 1,000 to 2,000 people would take memberships, and cover about three-quarters of the operating costs. That’s about 10% to 20% of the target audience. Assuming a middle figure, 1,500 members, the annual cost for a per-person membership would be about $300, perhaps $1,000 for a family with kids. These are my estimated costs, and were not provided at the session on Tuesday.

Hmm, how many people have that type of money to spend on a pool membership? In practice swimming in Parry Sound from June through September is free. I guess the higher paid hospital staff can afford a pool membership. It’s possible that the hospital might even subsidize memberships as a ‘health’ initiative. It’s not so obvious how others might afford the cost. There certainly will be some that can and will, but 1,500? The outlying communities can’t necessarily be expected to support a pool because of travel challenges in the winter. Some will find travel not to be an issue, but some seniors will find it to be an unreasonable burden driving into Parry Sound unless it’s connected with shopping or a doctor’s visit. And will these seniors expect a discounted rate? They seem to get it for all sorts of services. (Disclosure: I’m a pre-senior, and will be eligible for any senior benefits if a pool were to be built.)

The real issue concerns who will pay for the very real shortfall in revenue to operate the pool complex. The neighbouring municipalities are quite happy to have their residents enjoy facilities offered by Parry Sound, but are they willing to step up and pay their share, especially if membership revenue falls well short of forecast? And what about ten and twenty years from now when any facility will require capital repairs and upgrades? Might they step away from the arrangement and build a smaller complex in their own municipality, at lower cost?

Experience to date does not support the idea that Parry Sound’s municipal partners will be there to share the load. They will argue any assessment be based on non-seasonal residents so as to cut their obligations. And taking the West Parry Sound District Museum as an example, which was formed by agreement of the seven local communities, only five now still provide support. And the total funding is two-thirds of what it was ten years ago. How many people buy a puppy for their kids and a year or two later decide it’s too much trouble and too expensive so they take it out to the country and let it loose, or drop it off at the local animal shelter? Well Parry Sound would probably end up playing the animal shelter role.

It’s human nature to sign up for things and then change your mind. Think about fitness club memberships. That pool membership may not seem to be something you really need or want after a couple of years of not using it as much as you thought. Sort of like sports season tickets to any team not called the Maple Leafs. How are the Argonauts season tickets doing?

Then there is the question of the full population supporting the interests of a few. Remember that 10% to 20% figure for people who would join the pool. That means the rest of us would be responsible for providing them with a benefit we have no interest in. We Parry Sounders already subsidize the Stockey Centre and Bobby Orr Community Centre to the tune of $500,000 per year. Do I play hockey? No. Do I care for live music? No. But I’m still obligated to subsidize those who do through my property taxes. Do our municipal neighbours help pay for this? No, and that’s okay. They didn’t sign up for it, we did.

Back to dogs. Twice bitten, third time shy.

Despite the tone of this post I’m not against a pool. I just don’t want to pay for one. I would be delighted to have Seguin, McDougall or Carling take the lead and build a pool in their municipality. They have lots of land for this type of complex. Wait, they don’t have water or sewer services. So it’s back to Parry Sound to hold the bag on this one.

I would like to have the regional municipalities build and subsidize a ski hill so I wouldn’t have to drive to Collingwood. Like a pool it would support physical activity and improve the health of the community, or at least my health. It would probably also act as a lure for physicians who won’t come because we don’t have a ski hill close by. The logic for more and more is endless, and in its own way persuasive.

Lots of arguments, but who will pay, and how much? Are we really expected to subsidize the interests and hobbies of the few? We can’t afford to provide subsidized transportation for people to get to medical appointments, but people want us to afford a swimming pool? Let’s see how this plays out.

Incoming – Duck! (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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