Listen Up! Huntsville Council | Commentary

Our current Huntsville Council now has about eight months under its belt. There is always a learning curve early in any municipal council’s mandate, especially so when there is a new mayor, and half of the councillors are new to the game. 

Mayor Nancy Alcock had previously been on council, but there is a huge difference between that and the responsibilities taken on when one ascends to the mayor’s chair. I know that because, in the spirit of full disclosure, I have been there and done that.

There is no “honeymoon” period. Council has to get right down to work, create a budget and deal with other important issues that were on the table before they got there. That is not particularly easy and sometimes mistakes are made.

Having said all of that, elected bodies at any level of government are accountable to their constituents, not just at the end of their mandate, but throughout it. In that vein, it is not too early to take a hard look at some of the decisions this council has made at this stage in its mandate. 

Let’s start with the 2023 Budget. It resulted in a 5.29% tax increase. This did not include the $230,000.00 that was put aside as part payment for Huntsville’s share of the new hospital sites. Factoring that in, the real tax increase was more in line with 6.56%. Either way, it was one of the highest tax increases in Muskoka.

I can defend that. Huntsville is the largest area municipality in Muskoka. Post-pandemic there were also a number of issues that needed to be dealt with and a realistic budget had to address those matters. What is harder to defend, however, is what has happened since the 2023 Budget was passed by Huntsville Council.

Last week, a staff budget deviation report regarding the 2023 second quarter forecast was presented to council. It said that the Town’s second-quarter consolidated forecast shows an overall forecasted deficit of $91, 417.00 and that this represents a deviation of less than 1% of the total budget. So far so good. However, this number is based on the budget as it was passed.

Since then, in a relatively short period of time, over one million dollars of taxpayer’s money has been spent or approved to be spent on unbudgeted items. Here is the list of the ones I am aware of:

• $25,000.00 from the Art Acquisition Fund for a Request for Proposals for art installation in Kent Park (This may have been repealed recently);
• $5,000.00 for water access improvement at Camp Kitchen;
• $20,000.00 from working capital reserves for communication towers;
• $40,000.00 from the building stabilization fund for a meeting room;
• $10,000.00 from parks reserves for Fairy Lake Tyland Park;
• $53,000.00 from working capital reserves for Meadow Park;
• $12,000.00 from working capital reserves for Anthony Court;
• $25,000.00 from reserves for a climate consultant;
• $480,000.00 from fleet capital reserves for equipment repairs;
• $100,000.00 from human capital reserves for a new strategic planning position; 
• $75,000.00 from the human capital reserves for a new position in the Clerk’s  Department;
• $75,000.00 for a new Committee Coordinator;
• $56,000.00 to create parking at the Annex. (Next to the Library);
• $34,000.00 from the working reserves for staff furniture;
• $21,300.00 for new defibrillators from recreation reserves; 
• $26,000.00 from the IT reserves for council chamber audio upgrades and
• $25,000.00 for a consultant for a Building Management Plan from council chamber reserves.

The question here, at least for me, is not whether these expenditures were necessary. Some of them may well have been, while others, such as adding three new people to the Town payroll, appear to be more discretionary. Not included here are two additional staff positions in the Planning Department that were approved by council last week.

The real question is why weren’t all, or certainly most, of these items contained in the 2023 Budget passed in February? Surely these needs didn’t all pop up after that!

The reality is that in seven months, Council has already allowed the expenditure of at least a million dollars more than they approved in 2023. In my view, this makes a mockery of the budget process. 

Some have argued that because the vast majority of funds for these unbudgeted expenditures came out of reserves or dedicated funds, it was not necessary to include them in the budget as it does not affect the tax rate. That is simply not so. 

A budget is intended to reflect all expenditures planned during a specific period, in this case, 2023. It is also meant to restrain further spending. Reserve funds are all taxpayer’s dollars. Leaving these expenditures out of a budget misleads people about the amount of their money that is actually being spent. It also ignores the fact that reserves are there for a reason and in most cases have to be replenished, (again with taxpayer dollars), when these funds are spent.  Reserve funds were never intended to be council’s piggy bank outside of the budget process.

Another tough decision for council this year is whether or not to expend funds on a Pride, or rainbow crosswalk in the municipality. It is sadly a controversial issue to start with and understandable that council would be sensitive about the manner in which it is handled. The bottom line, however, is that it was not in the budget and projected costs are as much as $81,000.00. The two councillors who are championing the project did find this cost brought forward by staff unacceptable and will return to council after further study. I do wonder if another group with a similar request would receive the same consideration and attention.

Finally, there is the whole issue of washrooms in River Mill Park. I had a hand in the creation of that park and of course, I would like to see permanent washrooms there. The hard question though is at what price? 

This is not a problem created by our current council. It is one they inherited but one which they must now deal with. A very generous individual donated $300.000.00 dollars toward the building of two washrooms in River Mill Park. At first blush, that seems like more than enough.

 However, contrary to staff projections last year that $60,000.00 would cover the cost of installing the washrooms, they went back to council asking for an additional $270,000 to cover the installation. When you add that to the cost of the building the price tag has risen to $630,000.

Ruby Truax, writing in Huntsville Voice, gave a graphic description of this by showing six entire houses in Huntsville, either sold or for sale, each containing at least two bathrooms for amounts less than that. She makes a point that cannot be ignored.

Surely there is a different way of doing this. An unplanned and unbudgeted expense of an additional $270,000 is a really heavy dose, especially when you are already over budget by more than a million dollars.

No government, including municipal governments, can be all things to all people. There are times when you have to say, “no”.  Our council, in Huntsville, is facing some of those times. They are, in my view, on the edge of being seen as spendthrifts. 

There is a way to avoid this. All it takes is strong leadership and tough decisions.

Hugh Mackenzie 

Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District of Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.

Hugh has also served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.

In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.

Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.

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