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Serving the Mapleton Community
Community News Volume 44 Issue 43
Drayton, Ontario
1 Year GIC - 1.90% 3 Year GIC - 2.35% 5 Year GIC - 2.75%
Friday, October 28, 2011
Alma, Centre Peel and Maryborough projects to cost $1.5 million
Financial trends bode none too well for council
School board unveils $90-million full-day kindergarten capital plan
by Chris Daponte FERGUS - Three Mapleton Township schools are expected to undergo renovations totalling $1.5-million over the next three years to make room for new full-day kindergarten students. The Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) does not have any capital plans for Drayton Heights Public School, but the projects at the other Mapleton public schools include: - Alma: $250,000 to expand one existing classroom into a full-day kindergarten (FDK) room (for the 2013-14 school year); - Centre Peel: $950,000 for renovations to expand one classroom into an FDK room and to add three new classrooms (2014-15); and - Maryborough: $300,000 to renovate two classrooms into one FDK room and a seminar room (2014-15). However, Paul Scinocca, UGDSB capital projects manager, warned some of the cost estimates in the board’s $90-million capital plan are “a stab in the dark, at best.” Scinocca made that revelation in front of about 40 Wellington County residents - mostly parents - at an information meeting on Oct. 19 at Centre Wellington District High School in Fergus. “I can tell you 100%: things will change from this plan,” Scinocca said. The plan, to be completed by September 2014, is expected to make enough room to accommodate about 2,200 new
full-day kindergarten students. Scinocca said some cost estimates for the board’s 53 projects - ranging from minor renovations and additional classrooms to new schools are more accurate than others. Some are currently underway while others have already been completed. The uncertainty surrounding other projects, Scinocca said, can be attributed to a number of factors, including the amount of future funding that comes from the province, as well as the board’s mandate to make changes as equitable as possibly throughout the board. “[We’re] on tremendous deadlines that are almost impossible to meet,” Scinocca added. He said the board will have to make decisions on each individual project along the way. The province has dictated that full-day kindergarten will be implemented in all Ontario schools by the 2014-15 school year. Funding sources for the UGDSB’s capital plan include: - $8-million in proceeds from selling board properties; - $27 million in regular new pupil places (NPP) funding from the Ministry of Education; - $11 million in FDK funding already promised by the ministry. The UGDSB has requested an additional $37 million in FDK funding, but Scinocca said he suspects the board may not receive that much, as the requests are getting bigger and the competition for funding Continued on page 8
Local election results closer than originally reported PERTH-WELLINGTON - It appears it was a closer race than first thought between PC Randy Pettapiece and Liberal John Wilkinson. The original story in the Community News was based on results available on election night (Oct. 6) and the following few days. However, after the Community News’ deadline, it was reported that Elections Ontario had failed to include one poll in the results first published on its website. The new results, while still considered unofficial, revealed only a 0.5% difference (210 votes) between Pettapiece and Wilkinson. It was reported that Wilkinson was not seeking a recount. The updated results on the Elections Ontario website are: - Randy Pettapiece, PC, 14,845 votes; - John Wilkinson, Liberal, 14,635; - Ellen Papenburg, NDP, 5,836; - Chris Desjardins, Green Party, 918; - Irma DeVries, Family Coalition Party, 627; and - Robby Smink, Freedom Party, 164.
Main St. W. Palmerston
Footloose
Starring Kenny Womald, Julianne Hough and Dennis Quaid. “This is Our Time” Rated PG. Everyone welcome to a $2 Hallowe’en movie on Monday October 31st at 7pm.
SHOWTIMES: Friday and Saturday 8pm and Sunday 7pm
For more info call 519-343-3640 or visit www.norgantheatre.com
Daily Interest 1.75%
Fright night - Live actors await those brave enough to challenge Nightmare on Elm Street, the haunted house at the fairgrounds in Drayton. The haunted house, operated by Nightmare Creations, is open Oct. 27 to 31 from 7:30 to 10:30pm. photo by Wilma Mol
Council hears grim reality about keeping up with road work by David Meyer MAPLETON TWP. - It will continue to be tough to hold down taxes and keep up with all the road work that needs to be done in the township. Director of public works Larry Lynch presented a report on the township’s five year capital roads rehabilitation plan on Oct. 11 and there was little good news in it. He noted work on the plan began in 2008 with a road tour survey by R.J. Burnside and Associates to develop priorities for road needs in Mapleton. That report is the main tool Lynch and council use in determining annual capital road reconstruction priorities. It is based on a number of factors, including condition of pavement, structural adequacy of the road base, ride comfort
and surface problems. Yet Lynch said in his report, “What it does not address, but equally important in the decision making process, is proximity of roads to residential areas, institutions such as schools, medical facilities and business areas traffic volume, social impacts such as primary access routes to business, recreation or amenities frequently lining by automotive traffic. “All of these social factors must be considered when making the ultimate strategy decisions on road rehabilitation priorities,” Lynch concluded. He also presented council with another set of factors: - rehabilitation is based on an annual budget of $500,000; - improvement costs and benchmark cost are based on dollar values from the 2008
Weekly Wag
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data; - suggested rehabilitation strategy might have to be changed during actual construction; - annual average daily traffic is based on best guess only; and - the total cost of work in 2010 and this year was supplemented by Canada/Ontario infrastructure grants. Lynch told council he tries to follow the plan closely, and as of that night, all the rural work scheduled for 2011 was completed. There were only two small “semi-urban” projects in Alma left to do. This year, the township did work on nine kilometres of roads, pulverizing the existing hardtop or surface treatment, Continued on page 3
by David Meyer MAPLETON TWP. Finance director Mike Givens gave councillors some general numbers on the township’s financial outlook on Oct. 11, and like most municipalities, Mapleton is facing challenges. “Grants continue to sink,” Givens said. “We continue to have expenses.” He provided figures from 2008 through 2011. He noted the 2011 figures are based on budget projections. The total take in taxes in 2008 was $2.8 million (all figures rounded off) and they climbed to $3.25 million this year. Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) grants climbed slightly for the township, from $1.2 million in 2008 to $1.24 million this year. But other grants, dropped from $2.7 million to $808,000 in 2011. Township reserves went from $3.8 million in 2008 down to $1.8 in 2011. The reserve fund balance dropped over the four years from $821,000 to $706,000. Meanwhile, operating expenses climbed. Salaries and wages were $1.55 million in 2008 and they are now $1.8 million. Benefits during that period climbed from $263,000 to $309,000. Total operating expenses went from $2.97 million in 2008 to $3.34 million this year. Givens told council the township owns $46 million worth of buildings and equipment, but they continue to depreciate at a rate of about $4 million each year. “That’s less than our capital,” he said. He predicted, “It’s going to be tough over the next four years doing capital projects without a major impact on taxes.” He said of other municipalities, “Some are worse off than us.” Councillor Mike Downey said of the report, “It’s just a reality. There are no grants and reserves are down.” Whale said of the OMPF grants, “It was never a guarantee. We hope its lasts.” Neighbouring municipalities such as Centre Wellington have seen those OMPF grants slashed by hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past few years.