The mayor of Tweed says the municipality didn’t complete any major infrastructure projects this year because of a lack of funding.
However, Don DeGenova tells Quinte News that what council did do was to get municipal finances on the road to recovery.
“But in 2024 we implemented a 17.8 per cent tax increase which I know is nothing to celebrate but it did bring in an additional $820,000 in revenues for us. Along with that we launched four major studies on our way to implementing a development charge.”
DeGenova has been very vocal in calling on the federal and provincial governments to provide more funding to smaller municipalities for multi-million dollar infrastructure projects such as those involving water and sewer, roads and bridges.
Meanwhile, 2024 was a year that Tweed council worked to set the stage for future development in the community.
DeGenova says council met with local developers and ended up making changes to planning and zoning regulations.
“We reduced the parking space requirements for new builds, we reduced lot sizes to allow for enhanced urban densification and we also started permitting stationary mobile homes on rural lots.”
DeGenova says that because of the changes, 74 new residential units were either built or will be built
in 2024.
in 2024.
Mayor of Tweed Don DeGenova. (Photo: Hastings County)
