2022 Budget

Henry Ford said "stopping innovation to save money is like stopping your watch to save time". Chamber funding considerations - GFC

Establishing guidelines under the operating grant: Henry Ford said that stopping innovation to save money is like stopping your watch to save time. There are a few brief points I would appreciate The Finance Committee give consideration to as it stewards our economic recovery. The most effective fuel is a dollar spent that can then be essentially applied to many recipients. In effect, the multiplier effect of each dollar spent. In addition to the many worthy investments Council is considering, each dollar spent at a connected chamber has the capacity to be essentially shared at it’s real value with every member of that chamber. A dollar allocated to the Gravenhurst Chamber as a resource is then consequently is available to 285 member services, companies, agencies and employers in our community. Similarly, a dollar allocated to The Muskoka Chamber has a multiplier effect of over 356 businesses and organizations. The Chamber ecosystem is a direct, responsive and immediate method way of fuelling our economic health. The degree to which the community relies on each Chamber should be weighted most heavily in your funding decisions. Of course, there will be somer more fluid factors, like rent costs and other more minor factors within local communities but in general, the more the community relies on a Chamber, the more effective this allocation from the General Finance Committee is and the more defendable the decision is. Lastly, more than ever the challenges our Council faces in advancing our recovery for all constituents simply exceeds the reasonable capacity of the Council. It’s just physics really. You are being asked - like so many of us - to do more with less… and in many way, realistically, more than is reasonable. As we face this new reality, the effectiveness of every Chamber becomes a more viable, realistic, direct and accountable method of delivering resources on reopening, recovery, access to services (including visitor services during this recovery), business training, event development and so on. And they serve to aggregate feedback on behalf of Council so that our municipal government can have a articulate understanding of what issues are truly a priority rather than which are simply amplified the loudest. Please consider funding The Muskoka Lakes Chamber and all the chambers with a heavy weighting toward the volume of businesses and organizations that they serve through membership. In this respect, The Muskoka Lakes Chamber requires more robust funding and will have among the most rewarding results for our full community.

Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce will be vital to the recovery of many businesses. Township Council should increase support for the chamber

MLCC singly and in partnership with other chambers in Muskoka has provided exceptional support for businesses in promotion and guidance through the ever-changing rules of COVID. Evidence of this is the addition of new members during this time of hardship. Municipalities must accept a role in advancing the recovery of our business community and the most cost-effective way is to increase the support for the chamber to enable it to continue and expand its efforts.

Continue growing

More small business in Bala

Government should not be involved in trying to solve a problem when none exists. Private businees interests will solve this situation.

Chamber of Commerce

Put your full support behind the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber will be absolutely essential in leading businesses to recover following the pandemic and in years to come after as well. I will even go so far as to say that the Chamber should be a line item in the yearly operating budget and not a grant.

Should invest more to capital infrastructure

Only invest in capital infrastructure if it makes money for the Township/District. Losses should not be tolerated.

Both Bala and Port Carling commercial areas are in desperate need of pedestrian crosswalks with on demand stop lights.

The township has 10 fire stations and 13 community centers, more than double any other township in the region, and should consolidate them.

Excellent

The level of service provided by the Township is excellent. One area of concern to me is will the Township be able to continue this level of service with the amount of staff turn over that you are experiencing. The knowledge that is leaving, although replaceable over time, is important to running the Township.

Increase staff, train staff, provide enough support, and make processes transparent. Provide quality customer service.

My experience this year was with a huge delay getting a building permit for a small building on my property. However, I'm not sure what the problem was, lack of people, COVID, or what. But, if you want to encourage business you need to treat people respectfully. Phone calls weren't returned. Emails weren't replied to. There is no reason for this.

We have adequate service levels at the TML. Public transportation is not required unless it runs at no cost to the Township/District.

It is about time that all local governments ,sewer and water send out invoices by E-Mail to all those who wish it. It saves time and money

Address: (a) backlog in building applications; (b) insufficient enforcement of site alteration bylaws; and (c) overwhelmed planning staff.

Council should provide an opportunity for the community to engage in a meaningful, two-way discussion on budget spending and tax decisions.

Over the past decade, taxes have increased by 3x the rate of inflation, despite no growth in population, households or roads to maintain

Support Economic Development and Business

There should be demonstrated support for the number one economic driver in Muskoka Lakes: tourism. And that means supporting businesses that impact or are impacted by tourism, everything from restaurants to contractors who work on cottages our tourists eventually buy.

Property taxes are way too high for seasonal occupancy owners.

The budget was up by over 2.4% in 2021, despite inflation of just 0.65% in 2020. No tax increases would seem to be in order for this year.