Details on the 2023 taxation of the Municipality of the Township of Potton

After an exhaustive budgetary exercise by the municipal administration, the 2023 budget presented on December 13 was adopted at Potton Town Hall by the members of the municipal council. We would like to highlight the contexts related to specific adjustments or expenses.

Here are the main points of the 2023 budget adopted at the December 2022 special meeting:

1. The 2023 municipal budget is $10,165,803. This budget ensures the sustainability of municipal services. Needless to say, this increase is actually an adjustment that was overdue.

2. The total payroll for administrative staff and elected officials is indexed by 6.4%, i.e. the Quebec Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October 2022, all in accordance with the working conditions established in a bylaw.

3. New loans are included in the budget, namely:
• Borrowing for land on West Hill Road for future municipal buildings and taxed to all citizens.
• Borrowing for land on Joseph-Blanchet street, for residential development and taxed to all citizens.
• Borrowing for raw water intake work at Lake Memphremagog, intended to supply drinking water to the residents of this sector and taxed to the residents of the sector only (including Destination Owl’s Head).
• Borrowing for Owl’s Head drinking water plant, to update the plant and increase its production capacity. The sector tax will be allocated as follows: upgrade portion taxed to all OH residents (including Destination Owl’s Head) and capacity increase portion taxed only to Destination Owl’s Head.
• Borrowing for the municipalization of Myosotis and Nénuphars Roads, taxed to the sector in question only.
• Bellevue and Ruiter Brook Roads rehabilitation loan, taxed to the whole population for 25% of the work since the Municipality benefits from a government grant absorbing 75% of the costs.

4. The Fire and Civil Security department is undergoing an important adjustment to meet the requirements of the Fire Safety Cover Plan. In order to have a better service, the Municipality will create two permanent positions and a weekend watch.

5. Long-term projects are also put forward. A reflection has been initiated concerning the two wharves (Knowlton Landing and Vale Perkins). These facilities will require maintenance and repairs in the coming years and the Municipality wishes to plan the steps to be taken. In addition, the baseball field lighting will be redone in the spring of 2023.

6. The costs for residual material pick-up have gone up due to the increase of fuel price.

7. The Permits and Planning Department is experiencing difficulties in processing the numerous permit applications. As a result, two additional resources are budgeted for 2023 to replace the current external consultants. In addition, to be more efficient, a project to digitize urban planning files will be implemented in 2023 and will be spread out over two or three years. This project has been in the works for 10 years but has been postponed many times.