Budget hike by Lower Trent

Entering its 40th anniversary year, the Lower Trent Conservation Authority is asking for a $400,000 increase in its 2008 budget, to a new level of $3.5 million.

The proposed increase would bring individual taxpayers’ contribution to the conservation authority to an estimated $21.30 per household this year.

Most of the budget hike will be spent in three specific areas – watershed restoration of species at risk; the Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation support for private land stewardship on the moraine; and drinking water source protection around municipal water supplies.

The conservation officials unveiled their budget and business plans before both Trent Hills and Brighton councils on Monday night. Five other municipalities in Northumberland Quinte West will see the proposals this month.

The Lower Trent budget will get final review by the authority’s board of directors in Trenton on Feb. 14 – St. Valentine’s Day.

But the authority won’t have to wait that long to receive a few love letters from its municipal admirers.

At Trent Hills Council, Depute Mayor Dean Peters declared: “What is the individual taxpayer getting for their money? When you read through this list of services, I become convinced that it’s good value for money. The authority is well-managed.”

What do the taxpayers get for their money? Everything from running flood control prevention to a local drought response, and operating the Goodrich-Loomis Nature Camp as well as selling trees seedlings for watershed restoration.

“Of course, we should remember that only 18 per cent of their funding comes from the municipalities, the balance comes from the federal and provincial governments and other organizations.”

Mayor Hector Macmillan was even more complimentary about the Lower Trent’s proposals for 2008: “At a cost of $21.30 per household, it’s a great deal, it’s a bargain.”

But in Brighton, Councillor Brian Ostrander was more circumspect, and said he hoped to see the annual budget increases of nearly 10 per cent start to “ease” at some point.

However fellow Brighton Councillor Craig Kerr defended the organization, saying: “We have to look at the point we’ve reached as a society and the shift on the environment. This is a pittance we are being asked for.”

In his presentation to the municipalities, Lower Trent’s General Manager Jim Kelleher says that task of managing conservation in the lower Trent watershed has expanded rapidly in the authority’s 40-year history.

In 1968, the authority was a top-heavy bureaucracy with 21 board members, and only one part-time employee. Today it has reversed the numbers and has only 10 board members but a full-time staff of 21 people.

But Mr. Kelleher noted: “The stresses on our watershed are increasing. We cannot rest on the success we have achieved for much remains to be done.”

Today the authority’s jurisdiction covers 2,121 sq. kms in seven municipalities, including 211 kilometres of shorelines along lake Ontario and the Bay of Quinte.

The 2008 budget for the authority will be used to target a number of key responsibilities – prevent flooding, protect drinking water supplies, provide environmental education, operate conservation areas and trails and manage sensitive environmental lands.

The Independent - Budget hike by Lower Trent.