The Township of Brock is at a key moment of history with ambitious development plans in face of lower funding from development charges, fleet and equipment maintenance expenses and rising costs due to inflation and high interest rates.
“We now have the Waterfront Plan and the Recreation Master Plan. There’s a lot of items, there’s a lot of budget implications. This year and definitely next year we’re going to have to actually make some decisions on these plans – on what we want to move forward with because there is only so much money going around,” Brock Mayor Walter Schummer told Durham Post.
Asked about the budget for these plans, the mayor said the Recreation Master Plan has some degree of costing in it. Nothing’s been costed in the Waterfront Plan. “Some of the work that will be done this year is to start costing these things out. The priority is determining what would we like to do and what can we afford to do.”
“There are large chunks that havent been costed out,” added Chief Administrative Officer, Michelle Willson. She pointed out that these plans are going to take years – if not decades – to complete.
If something is going to cost a million dollars to complete it’s going to take some time to save that money up or receive the development charges that could fund it, the mayor added.
He pointed out that last year was the start of his first term which focused on getting information and public input. This year, the township plans to cost out the project and find sources of funding.
Harbor Divestiture
Mayor Schummer said there are some issues with the Waterfront Plan, especially the harbor, which the township doesn’t even own. It’s a federal property. “They have discussed on and off about divestiture with us, but that would have to start up again.”
Also, a lot of the parts of the Waterfront Plan for the downtown area are on private property. So there are aspects to those that have to be worked out. The boat houses are another issue because the townhip has to decide what to do with them.
Grants and government funding
Asked if the township would approach the region, the province and Ottawa for support in funding the projects, Mayor Schummer said: “Grants and funding are great, but you can’t count on them. All you can do is make sure you’re kind of shovel ready. But that takes money too. Even if a grant opportunity does arise – whether it’s federal and/or provincial, you’ve got to spend money to be at least somewhat ready to put the shovel in the ground.
“Building the funds from now on is going to be a big discussion this year – balancing affordability with collecting the money. With all the new projects, the Recreation Master Plan and the Waterfront Plan, we’ve got big demands on us in the coming years,” the mayor said adding that another major expense is in maintaining the township’s fleet of work vehicles and equipment.
He explained that there was “quite the discussion in council” about having to start planning and funding reserves so that the township can start making these purchases down the road just to replace equipment. “We haven’t even really got to the new stuff yet so it’s gonna be a big burden.”
The Township of Brock is spread out geographically and has numerous roads to maintain.
The mayor acknowledged that there is a degree of frustration in the community. “But people have to understand there’s a process involved with procurement and getting that design and everything done and getting it to the point where we can afford what’s going to be done.”
On the 2024 budget, the mayor said the council wanted to keep [the tax increase of 3.97 per cent] under 4 per cent.
“We had an eye on inflation, and knowing that the region is probably going to be coming in at around 7 per cent, you could be looking at an overall tax increase in the township of maybe around 5 per cent. Water rates went up over 7 per cent, everything is going up. There’s the appetite to put some money away into reserves, but at the same, we’re time trying to balance out the affordability issue,” Mayor Schummer said.
Development charges
He said the province is certainly not helping with development charges (Bill 23). “The region is getting massively hit with decreases to development charges. It’s going to come out of the taxes for the most part. Yeah, we’re gonna be hit. The province isn’t doing anybody any favors with some of the legislation they pass.”
He pointed out that Brock was seeing a nice little burst of growth even after the pandemic, but then interest rates started creeping up and the township has seen a definite slowing down of those permits. “If the building permits don’t get issued that money doesn’t come,” Mayor Schummer pointed out.
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