BRUCEDALE – Guelph/Eramosa council appointed liaisons and passed bylaws about tax rates and road closures on May 23.
Township liaisons
Councillor Steven Liebig volunteered to be the liaison for East Wellington Community Services, an organization that supports Guelph/Eramosa and Erin residents with social services like healthcare and transportation.
Deputy clerk Chris Fraresso will continue to be the liaison for Safe Communities Wellington County.
Safe Communities is a volunteer-based organization of Wellington residents, OPP officers, firefighters, paramedics, business owners, and liaisons from each of the seven townships.
They work to increase safety, recognizing the three leading causes of injury in the county are falls, car accidents and intentional self harm.
While Safe Communities launched about a decade ago, provincial legislation has recently passed “requiring every municipality to come up with a safety plan,” said Mayor Chris White, and “the county has taken that task on through Safe Communities.”
Tax rate bylaw passed
The bylaw to establish and levy tax rates for 2023 passed unanimously.
The total residential/farm class tax rate is 0.01085735 per cent of property value.
This means taxes for 2023 will be almost $5,500 for a $500,000 residential property.
About $1,370 of this covers the township tax rate – a 4.9% increase from 2022.
Taxes for Wellington County make up about 60% of the total – almost $3,300 for a $500,000 home.
Taxes for education purposes are about 14% of the total – $756 for a $500,000 home.
Payments are due in two installments: on Aug. 31 and Oct. 31, with late penalties of 1.25% per month.
Road closure bylaw
Council also passed a bylaw to permit closing portions of York Street and Barden Street during the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival on Sept. 10.
