Bruce County Council Approves Implementation of Development Charges

by Bob Montgomery

Bruce County council has approved the implementation of development charges starting this year.

Bruce County Treasurer Edward Henley says the development charges will be phased in gradually over a ten year period, with the charge for the first year at 25% of the total charge. Henley says the decision to implement a development charge was made after they completed their asset management plan and realized they hadn't set aside any money over the years to cover the cost of replacing their bridges as they got older. When that time eventually came, and a bridge that was over one hundred years old shifted at the foundation and was condemned, they were going to have to borrow the money to replace the bridge. Henley says that was going to cost too much money and they weren't prepared to borrow their way out of it. They established an asset management plan which ultimately led to the development charges. The new charges will mean a tax increase of 2.1% each year for the next fifteen years to get them to where they should be.

But Henley says that only deals with their existing infrastructure. In the past, in an attempt to keep taxes as low as possible they didn't put money aside for things like a bridge that might have to be replaced in twenty years. They then found out that they also had ten million dollar bridges that were going to have to be replaced eventually and they didn't have any money set aside for them either, so that's why they implemented an asset management plan.

Henley says the other option is closing bridges when they can no longer be used and that has not been a very popular option when it's been done in the past. On top of that, if they are county bridges they can't be closed.