Erin councillor John Brennan says the province’s refusal to provide adequate funding for conservation authorities is “disgusting.”
He made the comments following a Dec. 1 presentation by Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) CAO Deborah Martin-Downs outlining municipal levy increases for 2016.
Erin has a 0.67 percentage apportionment of the Credit Valley watershed, resulting in a general levy of $55,737 plus a special levy of $13,915, for a total of $69,652.
That represents an increase of 3.53 per cent or $2,377 over last year’s town levy.
The CVC budget presentation also shows a projected 8.4 per cent Erin levy increase in 2017 and a 4.4% increase in 2018. Martin-Downs said the CVC has not spent much time on those numbers and they are subject to change.
Mayor Allan Alls said he wants the province to step in for funding.
“I guess what’s so frustrating for us as a small community is that the province wants all this clean water and clean air and clean food and all the rest of it, but we in the small communities pay for it and what we’re saying to the province … (is) we need some help with that, and they should be financing too, not just us,” Alls said.
Councillor John Brennan, who sits on the board of the CVC, agreed.
“This started out as a 50/50 funding proposition between the province and the municipalities and the province has walked away from this – they haven’t walked away, they’ve ran away – and in fact, it’s totally disgusting,” said Brennan.
“The province tries to tote itself as a green province and talk about alternative forms of energy, conservation and the environment and how healthy it is for everybody, and (then)not properly fund the people who’ve had their boots on the ground for 40 years and know what’s going on.”
The town is also a part of the Grand River watershed and the GRCA will be asking for $79,929 for the 2016 municipal levy according to the Nov. 27 GRCA board meeting agenda.
Erin council will discuss conservation authority levies during operating budget talks.
Credit Valley Trail
Martin-Downs also gave an update on the Credit Valley Trail, which is not planned to go through Erin, but will connect to the Elora Cataract Trail at the Forks of the Credit. The project is being supported by the Greenbelt plan, but the CVC will be looking for fundraising opportunities.
“The Credit Valley Trail is going to be a trail from Port Credit to Orangeville along the Credit,” said Martin-Downs.
“A lot of it is in place today but it’s linking it up and linking it to major trunk trails like the Elora Cataract Trailway as well to other cultural features.”
