The mayors of Sundridge and Strong emphasized the need for residents of both municipalities and Joly to attend the public meeting on amalgamation later this month.
“We want to hear from the public,” said Strong Mayor Tim Bryson of the Jan. 25 meeting. “We want to know their questions and concerns because we still have more studying to do.”
Sundridge Mayor Justine Leveque said the three municipalities hired a consultant to help the restructuring committee on the amalgamation question at a cost of $12,000. However, Bryson says a second consultant will need to be hired to figure out what amalgamation will actually cost to carry out. This bill for this second study could be as high as $40,000.
The upcoming public meeting is an opportunity for the residents of all three communities to get accurate and up-to-date information as to where the restructuring committee is at.
Bryson said there is a lot of misinformation being discussed, such as some residents of Joly and Strong believing they will have to pay for Sundridge’s sewers in an amalgamated scenario. Bryson says this is not the case.
As for spending tens of thousands of dollars on the studies, Bryson says it’s necessary.
“This has to be a transparent, unbiased process,” Bryson said, noting it can't be handled by municipal staff because the committee wants to avoid any public claims or perception that staff are biased.
Leveque said the amalgamation process is not something staff have gone through and they don’t have the expertise the consultants have about merging three municipalities.
In the opinion of both mayors, there are more pros than cons to amalgamation.
The three municipalities share many services but arriving at those shared services requires binding agreements and they need to be renewed every five years.
Bryson said the cost to update shared services agreements is about $70,000 which pays for lawyers’ fees and work carried out by the audit, tax and advisory firm, KPMG.
“And this would go on for perpetuity,” Bryson said, adding the studies are a one-time expense. “So, this is a drop in the bucket compared to what we pay forever with shared services,” he said.
Leveque added shared services create inefficiencies because it takes one employee from each municipality and the three town councils to oversee the agreements.
This disappears under amalgamation.
Leveque notes what also disappears are the numerous shared committee meetings involving all three councils and staff, in addition to the Tri-council meetings the municipalities hold.
Bryson said in the two-plus years he’s been mayor of Strong, he’s nearing the 300 mark in terms of meetings he’s attended.
What the restructuring committee is proposing in an amalgamated community is a ward system made up of four councillors and one mayor.
Currently, each municipality has four councillors and one mayor for a total of 15 elected individuals.
Bryson said one town council under amalgamation saves money since there are fewer councillors and mayors to pay.
The ward system is based on the populations of each municipality, but Bryson notes the representation could change and that’s why it’s important for people to attend the meeting and provide input.
Leveque said amalgamation opens the door to the mayor becoming full-time because of the tremendous workload.
Bryson said in terms of what residents currently pay in municipal taxes, the three communities aren’t very far apart.
Bryson said Strong has kept taxes down over the years but that also means there wasn’t enough money to maintain infrastructure. As examples, he cites Tower Road and Pevensey Road which used to be paved but are now gravel roads.
Bryson was the mayor of Joly between 2018 and 2022 before being elected in Strong in 2022. He said it while he was with Jolly that the three municipalities formed a task force to study a possible merger.
Near the end of that term, the task force became a formal committee and the present term saw the three councils turn that into a restructuring committee.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing does not intend to reimburse the municipalities for the cost of the consultants’ studies, said Leveque.
The municipalities will absorb the expense, with Strong paying half the bill, Sundridge 40 per cent and Joly the remaining 10 per cent.
However, Bryson said should amalgamation move forward, the local MPP has told him verbally the Ontario government would try to help with transition costs.
Bryson said the transition costs could be high given the logistics involved in turning three municipalities into one.
Both mayors agree amalgamation won’t likely result in layoffs. Rather it will see existing employees become more specialized in their work.
For example, currently there are three clerks in the three municipalities. The mayors say under restructuring one person would be the clerk, the other a deputy clerk and the third could take on the role of human resources.
Bryson adds even if there is no amalgamation, he expects municipal job numbers to increase given the growing population.
The meeting takes place at Almaguin Highlands Secondary School Jan. 25 from 1 to 3 p.m.
A second public engagement meeting will take place sometime in March after the restructuring committee has the results of the financial study from the second consultant.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
