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Orangeville sets firefighting fee structure for Mono

November 9, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS, LOCAL JOURNALSIM INITATIVE REPORTER

Orangeville’s deputy mayor is not impressed with the amended fire service agreement with the nearby Town of Mono.

During council’s regular meeting on Oct. 30, Todd Taylor said that Mono should have to pay what the service costs.

Simple as that. 

In June 2019, the Orangeville Fire Service Agreements was amended from a per-call billing to a flat rate. The agreement was for 2019-22 on a flat rate basis with four installments per year.

The revised agreement is for an additional four years and continues to be based on an annual flat rate.

The new agreement, which will run until 2026, has a 26.32 per cent increase in the first year for a $1,004,643 fee, followed by annual increases of 3.24 per cent or $1,037,221 in 2024, then 2.74 per cent or $1,065,687 in 2025, and 2.75 per cent or a $1,095,043 fee in the final year.

Mono Councillor Elaine Capes said during that council’s Sept. 26 meeting that, when the first-year 26 per cent increase was first broached by Orangeville, Mono council had intentions to ask that the amount be “evened out.”

“They said No,” said Mono Mayor John Creelman.

“Very collaborative,” Capes said, sarcastically.

As per the adjusted fee proposal, Mono will pay 15 per cent this year for a flat service rate of $914,600. Another 15 per cent will be billed next year for an adjusted flat rate of $1,051,790. Mono will be billed 4.5 per cent in the third year for an adjusted flat rate of $1,099,121 and 3.45 per cent in the agreement’s four years for a $1,137,083 adjusted flat rate.

“I see that the dollars all work out in the end, but there’s the velocity of money argument,” Taylor said. “We adjusted down in Year 1 and we’re funding our friends in Mono at a great rate. And then they jump by a large amount in Year 2.

“I’m just curious why we didn’t stay with what was original because, even though the monies work out in the end, there’s a year where we’re actually funding Mono versus the real cost.”

Mike Richardson, the acting chief at the Orangeville Fire Department, and Patrick Kelly, the town’s treasurer, appeared before Mono council during its regular meeting on Oct. 10.

Kelly said they answered Mono council’s questions and left with some requests for consideration.

“We were under the previous version of the agreement already funding a small portion of [Mono’s costs] in the near term and making up for it in the later term,” Kelly said. “This continues to do that to a bigger extent.

“The one piece that’s key within that is it does put us at a better starting point at the end of the term of the agreement.”

Taylor’s response might appear to be emotional, but he said it feels to him like Orangeville is always dealing with that one municipality. He respects Mono’s mayor, deputy mayor, and councillors.

“But it’s annoying to me,” Taylor said. “In Year 1, we’re funding them is what’s happening. It’s not lost on me at the end that we end up with a better result.

“But then I also start thinking about 2027 and what that negotiation will be.”

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