KIRKLAND LAKE - Some residents are expressing concerns over this year’s budget.
The Town of Kirkland Lake held three public meetings on April 4 regarding its 2024 budget, water and wastewater rates and user fees and charges.
Council received comments and questions from four members of the public, though questions weren’t answered during the meeting and council members weren’t permitted to discuss or debate with members of the public.
Town teasurer Lloyd Crocker responded to the questions from last week as well as submitted questions at a special meeting yesterday (April 9).
Some main concerns brought to light during the first public meeting surrounding the 2024 town budget were the town's fire department, the recently released Sunshine List and Teck Pioneer Residence.
One resident asked if there's any other municipality similar in size to Kirkland Lake with 12 full-time firefighters. They further asked what the health and safety issues are causing council to hire two additional full-time firefighters.
Crocker said because he only had four days between meetings, there wasn’t enough time to retrieve the data regarding other municipality’s fire department stats.
“The two new hires, and I'll keep this very brief, this is really kind of very operational as well, while we do recognize there's an increase in the budget because of it. But they resulted in negotiations with the union,” he said.
“My short comment is that recent arbitration awards have ranged from three to four-man crews and I think those arbitration awards were based on a safety argument.”
A resident also questioned the recently released 2023 Sunshine List. They noted that Temiskaming Shores, which has a population of around 9,600 people, has three people making over $100,000 and Kirkland Lake, with a population of 7,750, has 28 people on the list. They also questioned how many people live out of town and aren’t paying taxes in Kirkland Lake.
Crocker said it’s not fair to compare it to Temiskaming Shores, which doesn’t have a full-time fire team or a long-term care home like Kirkland Lake does.
“A very large portion of our Sunshine List comes from those two departments. So we're not really comparable,” he said.
Crocker said all positions are advertised.
“We're open to anybody applying and we go through a very vigorous process,” he said.
Accusing staff of not caring based on where they live is unjust, CAO Alan Smith said at the beginning of the April 9 meeting.
“It undermines the diverse perspectives and experiences that individuals bring to the table. Dedication and passion are not contingent upon where one lives,” he said.
“Public meetings are to discuss specific topics, rather than making baseless assumptions about people. Should there be any concerns about the commitment and dedication of any staff member or concerns regarding the day to day operation of staff from specific departments, I strongly encourage you to utilize the formal complaint submission process to share your concerns.”
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Another resident asked if the town has given any thought to selling out Teck Pioneer Residence to eliminate some expenses and collect municipal taxes.
Crocker said any discussions surrounding this would be subject to privacy and confidentiality long before there would be any public discussion.
“And that's normal. Many decisions require a privacy component to it until we get to a stage where decisions are actually being made. The public would be informed as soon as practicable for any significant change in operations."
No one talked at the public meetings about user fees or water and wastewater rates on April 4.
In January, the town reported that its water rates were going up 1.7 per cent this year, with a 3.5 per cent increase in wastewater rates. However, last month its budget reported they could increase even more.
This would mean a total increase of 4.2 per cent for water and five per cent for wastewater for 2024.
The new proposed increase would mean a starting quarterly flat rate of $56.27 for water and $46.17 for sewer.
In 2023, the starting flat rates were $54 per quarter for water and $43.97 for sewer.
The draft bylaw establishing the 2024 water and wastewater rates will be brought forward for three readings at the town’s April 25 special council meeting.
SEE: Water, sewer rate hike on tap in Kirkland Lake
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For user fees, the recommendation is to add a surcharge to the majority of municipal fees and charges and for the new rates to be effective on July 1.
The draft bylaw and schedules for the town’s 2024 user fees and charges will be at the April 16 council meeting.
The April 9 meeting can be watched here. The agenda can be found here.
