After conferring with municipal staff, Ward 1 Coun. Bryon Fluker withdrew his motion to Chatham-Kent council asking for a three per cent farm tax increase to fund rural bridge repair.
Scheduled to be spoken to at last Monday’s council meeting, Fluker withdrew his motion, and said he will bring it up during the budget deliberation process. Mayor Randy Hope, however, invited the nine delegations who wanted to speak to the issue to still come forward.
Several members of the farm community addressed council in opposition to a farm-based tax increase from 0.22 to 0.25 per cent, including Louis Roesch of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
“There is a $3 billion agri footprint in Chatham-Kent” and to support it properly, “we need to have roads and bridges at the front of our municipal budget, not the back,” Roesch said to council. “Without good infrastructure, there will only be negative outcomes.”
Recognizing the need for funding for bridges, Roesch said increasing farm taxes is not the way to get it, and farmers have already faced tax increases of almost 100 per cent since 2012.
Municipal staff are currently preparing an asset management plan for municipal infrastructure needs that will address bridge and road conditions and it is expected to be presented to council Jan. 16, 2017.
