With finances in a critical situation for the Municipality of Tweed, Mayor Don DeGenova says the area will be biting the bullet and looking to try and get finances in order.
“I mean with COVID staggering and lingering inflation, and it is still here, increased demand for our services, and the lack of provincial and federal government funding… with the lack of funding, we depleted our reserves and we had to borrow some money at very high interest rates just like everybody else and so it put us in a very difficult situation,” DeGenova tells Quinte News.
“If we don’t address the situation, and we keep pushing it off, it’s going to be the next council that has to deal with it.”
When the first proposed tax increase was released, the municipality was looking at a 54 per cent tax for 2024.
DeGenova acknowledged that there was no way that they could do that increase with the way living is already.
Following several budget meetings, the tax increase was slashed down to over 15 per cent as of December 18.
“We have to do this. That’s not something we want to do but we have to do, and we’re probably looking at a double digit (increase) again in 2025 and 2026 and we have decided that we will bite the bullet,” DeGenova tells Quinte News.
“We are going to get us on a sound footing so that we are paying around the same tax rates as our neighbors are paying. We are considerably lower than everybody else and we have to get our revenues back up there especially when provincial and federal governments are not coming forward with the money that not only us but small rural communities need to address their infrastructure projects.”
While Tweed looks to get back on track financially, the municipality is anticipating some positive news for 2024.
Mayor Don DeGenova says the municipality will be welcoming its first subdivision projects since the 1970s.
“It’s going to be an exciting initiative.” DeGenova tells Quinte News.
“We are looking at bringing on 20 new housing units for our community, which is substantial, and that’s gonna consist of two six unit apartment buildings, nine townhomes, two duplexes with four units in them and one single family home.”
DeGenova says the municipality is working closely with the developer.
Because of the expansion, the municipality is holding a developer’s forum that will take place on January 12 that will help the municipality learn what other developers will be looking to do if they want to build housing in Tweed.
“We got a great number of subdivision plans on the books, and we want them to share with us what types of housing they’re going to build. What are some of the issues they’re facing? How much is it going to cost them to put in that infrastructure? It’s going to be very, very expensive for them to do those developments, so we’re working with them in closed session.”
The first of the subdivision projects is set to launch in the spring of 2024.
