Review-Mirror

OPINION PAGE Publisher/Editor– Howie Crichton hcrichton@review-mirror.com Advertising Sales – Bill Ritchie advertising@review-mirror.com Office – Louise Haughton lhaughton@review-mirror.com Reporter-Photographer - Margaret Brand mbrand@review-mirror.com 4 – February 15, 2018 The Review-Mirror 43 Bedford St. P.O. Box 130,Westport, Ont. K0G 1X0 Ph. 613-273-8000 • 1-800-387-0796 • Fax 273-8001 editor @ review-mirror.com • www.review-mirror.com • PAP Registration No. 01601 • Printed in Smiths Falls, Ontario • The Review-Mirror is published Thursdays. Subscriptions: $33.84 online; $44.50 locally; $55.00 elsewhere in Canada; $150 in the U.S. We acknowledge the support of the Government of Canada. Publishers ONTARIO COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION 1893-1897 — H. E. Bywater 1897-1916 — W. B. Adams 1916- — Arthur Niblock -1967 — Jim Niblock 1967-1987 — F. Lea and Phyllis Hutchinson 1987-1988 — Bob & Sandy Runciman 1988-1993 — Phil Rutherford 1993- — Howie Crichton CANADIAN MEDIA CIRCULATION AUDIT Mirror The Review Westport village council took a second run at its bud- get for 2018 at a meeting Feb. 8. After two hours, council decided to allow the "numbers dust" to settle until the next Committee of the Whole meeting Feb. 20 at which point the real work will need to be done. As the discussion drew to a close it was clear to all members of council that the required increase in tax revenue was still too high to pass on to rate payers. The meeting on Feb. 20 will require some tough choices in order to get the overall tax increase requirement down to the 2 per cent range. The meeting started with a discussion of the water and waste water budget. Before the discussion got underway Mayor Robin Jones directed members of council to the last page of the budget report for water and sewer that showed a combined water budget shortfall for 2018 of $21,271. The point being that with all the activity in the water and waste water service over the last year it appears to be possible to budget for only a $21,271 deficit for 2018. While reviewing the budget docu- ment the village treasurer pointed out that total waste water expenses in 2017 were $279,164 and the operating cost of the new system, for 2018, are estimated at $186,300 a saving of $92,864. Before people get too excited it has to be noted that the combined water fund shortfall for 2018 does not include an estimate of $122,371.00 for amortiza- tion. Readers will recall that at this point in time the province is mandating that amortization be accounted for on financial statements but that money does not have to be placed in the bank but that is likely to happen in the near future. It is also worth noting that the num- bers for the water and sewer operation also include a long term debt principle payment of $142,055 per year. Not to be forgotten is the $2,200,000 grant the province provided to the vil- lage. You don't even want to imagine what the principle payment would be if the vil- lage had to finance the entire project. At this point the main job is to get the new system up and running and fine tuned. When fully oper- ational the new system will be able to accommodate an additional 40 homes. Bring on the subdivision and any other proposed development that has been waiting patiently. The other announcement by the treasurer concerning the water and sewer file was that the recommendation from staff is not to raise either the overall water and sewer rate or the charge for capital improvements to the water and sewer system. No member of council men- tioned it but it seemed to the writer that the recommenda- tion from staff might be at odds with the recommenda- tions contained in the con- sultant's report that was done on the water and sewer sys- tem. It might be worth con- sidering a modest increase (one to two per cent) in the water and sewer rate in order to either begin to create a reserve or begin to pay down the long term debt bill. Following the water and sewer budget discussion, council moved onto the gen- eral operating budget. As the discussion concluded on the general operating budget it would require a seven per cent tax increase to fund the operation of the village for 2018. A one per cent increase is equivalent to requiring $8000 additional tax revenue. A seven per cent tax increase would add $210 to a house assessed at $200,000. There was general consensus that this kind of increase was unacceptable. The stumbling block, to some extent, for council is that there are a number of capital expenses that simply can't be avoided. The village has to fund, for example, $48,510 worth of fire fight- ing equipment. At the end of the general budget discus- sion staff have been tasked to come back to council with a budget that requires a two per cent increase in tax rev- enue for 2018. The budget has numerous interesting numbers and, for those interested, the writer would recommend that peo- ple go to the village web site to look over the budget pro- jections. A couple of inter- esting line items include the harbour with projected rev- enues of $65,000 and pro- jected expenses of $65,000. Businesses in the village benefit from the harbour but it is probably fair to say that most people have thought of the harbour as a revenue pro- ducing facility. The budget projections for the arena are also not really good news. Arena rev- enue for 2018 is projected at $181,000. Arena expenses are projected at $210,000. Ice rental rates have been increased for 2018/19. Resi- dents may also be concerned that there is no money in a budget line item for Bedford Street. Council is going to have another run at the budget at the Feb. 20 meeting. It will be interesting to listen to the discussion around what was done to get to two per cent. An additional $40,000 will have to come out of the gen- eral budget to get to two per cent. Budgeting isn't easy and is made more difficult when you don't have any money. Mike McIntyre joymikechloe@gmail.com Council working toward 2% tax increase for 2018 Letters to the Editor The Review-Mirror accepts Letters to the Editor. Letters may be edited for content, space and libel. Please include a phone number for confirmation. Windrift Adventures Statement Regarding Ontario SPCA Investigation For 25 years, Windrift Adven- tures has been dedicated to pro- viding the sled dogs in our care with the love, support and com- passion necessary to ensure their health and well being. Recently, we were visited by Natasha Guerriero and Dylan Blake who recorded video of one of our sled dogs, Koi, who had sustained a minor injury to his leg. Koi was and continues to be under our care and his injury has been properly cleaned and is being attended to by our veteri- narian. At no time has Koi been in distress or mistreated. It is noteworthy that during her visit to our facility, neither Ms. Guerriero or Mr. Blake inquired about Koi's injury or his health, and instead after enjoying a dog sledding experience uploaded footage to Facebook without any context or under- standing of the dog's actual situ- ation or the animal care practices in place at Windrift Adventures, in Central Ontario. We note that Ms. Guerriero has participated in an advocacy effort led by an animal rights organization to enhance Ontario's animal welfare laws before dog sledding at our facili- ty. Both Ms. Guerriero and Mr. Blake have since participated in a campaign led by another ani- mal rights organizations that seek to have our animals removed from their home, in our care. Windrift Adventures adheres to the highest standards of ani- mal welfare and meets or exceeds all of Ontario's animal welfare legislation. Windrift Adventures also follows best practices for sled dog care that exceeds Ontario's existing requirements. Windrift Adventures has fully cooperated with the Ontario SPCA's investigation and will continue to cooperate, but is deeply concerned by the pattern of behaviour the Ontario SPCA has shown here and in other investigations. We believe the Ontario SPCA's ongoing media cam- paign against Windrift Adven- tures misrepresents the facts regarding animal care at our facility. We note the Ontario SPCA is presently the defendant in a $21 million dollar lawsuit brought by another organization who faced the Ontario SPCA's blend of inspection and damaging media commentary. We were alarmed by a Febru- ary 2, 2018 fundraising email from the Ontario SPCA's Chief Inspector sent to the Ontario SPCA's email list with the sub- ject line: An Important Update from Our Chief Inspector -- Sled Dogs Case. The uncomfortable mix of fundraising and investigations has a long history in Ontario. In a 2005 ruling that dismissed charges laid against a horse owner, Justice A. Zuraw stated the following of the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA: "It hires its own agents and inspectors, determines the para- meters of their employment, and using aforementioned police powers, enters property, seizes animals as in this case (without warrant or judicial intervention) and lays charges – all the while attending to its own need to fund raise. In order to do the latter, it relies heavily on the publicity it can glean from high profile seizures and charges. Indeed, there is a communications branch tasked with this. It is a not-for-profit organization and a registered charity. Without pub- licity and high profile charges, the funds the S.P.C.A. needs to operate would no doubt dry up." [R. v. Pauliuk, 2005 ONCJ 119 (CanLII)] We believe the same holds true for the Ontario SPCA as has been demonstrated in their han- dling of the Toronto Humane Society case and others. [https://www.thestar.com/news/gta /2010/08/16/why_charges_were_d ropped_in_humane_society_case. html] Windrift Adventures will con- tinue to conform to the highest standards of animal care to ensure the welfare of the animals in our care and urge the Ontario SPCA to act to the highest degree of professional standards as well. OSPCA structure makes for uncomfortable mix of investigations and fundraising

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