Erin council decided at its Dec. 1 meeting to implement changes to the town’s corporate services fees.
“We decided to go ahead with just an administrative fee bylaw to start charging for some services that pretty much every other municipality charges for and we haven’t been charging for,” explained clerk Dina Lundy.
“With increased participation and increased people coming in for these services, we feel that it’s probably time to start charging for these fees.”
Councillor Matt Sammut asked if the fee of $300 per year for agendas was reasonable.
Lundy replied, “I did calculate an average of what all our agendas were costing, if you did a per-page copy charge, and some of them wanting agendas for an entire year would cost $1,000 – so $300 per year is quite reasonable.”
Councillor Jeff Duncan asked if council should exempt the press from that charge.
“I understand why when it’s a little bit of an aggravation to print them all out, but I’m wondering … do we want to exempt the press for it?” asked Duncan.
“On the other hand Metroland and the Advertiser likely can afford the $300 a year. It’s more the principle of it; they’re representing the broader community.”
Council agreed on the exemption for the media.
Sammut suggested council should look into using cheap laptops to save on printing costs.
The fee changes include:
– certification of a true copy, from no charge to $10;
– commissioner of oaths, from no charge to $10;
– council agendas, from no charge to $300 per year or $0.30 per page;
– fence viewing requests, from actual cost ($250 deposit) to $400;
– kennel licences, from $125 (to March 31) and $150 (after April 1) to $150 and $200 respectively;
– lottery licences, from one per cent of estimated total value of prizes ($10 minimum) to 3% of estimated total value of prizes ($20 minimum);
– photocopies, from no charge to $0.30 per page (no charge for first five pages);
– tax arrears notices, from no charge to $5;
– tax bill re-prints, from no charge to $15; and
– tax certificates, from $40 to $50.
