Amalgamation of fire services.
A single-tier road system.
Chief administrative officers working for multiple municipalities at once.
These were just some of the cost-saving ideas that flew fast and furiously across the room at Vespra Valley Golf Course on Tuesday, but at the end of the day, Simcoe County councillors decided they needed more clarity and information before making suggestions to the province.
County council met Tuesday to come up with ideas to suggest to the province during its regional governance review – which was first announced in January – to present a united front.
However, coming up with what that united front would look like proved to be more difficult than expected.
“One thing is for certain,” county chief administrative officer Mark Aitken said to kick off the workshop. “Municipalities change. Even since our last amalgamation in the ’90s... there’s been a ton of change, not only at the county level but at the local level.”
Councillors split up into four smaller groups to tackle four major categories: suggested reforms to municipal government structures, suggested reforms to services/delivery models, risks or concerns for changing municipal government structures and risks or concerns for modifying services/delivery models.
Some of the ideas brought forward by the two suggested reforms groups were to bring conservation authorities and water/wastewater under the County of Simcoe umbrella, while moving responsibility for libraries under each municipality.
“The less politicians there are, the more decisions are made at a staff level, and that takes the power away from the people,” Ramara Township Mayor Basil Clarke said to applause from other councillors. “This is very crucial. (We need to) stress that the number of politicians is not the problem.”
Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Rob Keffer floated the idea of other municipalities in the county, aside from Barrie and Orillia, exploring the option of becoming separated cities.
“We seem to be tap dancing around what responsibilities should be taken on by the county and which by the municipality,” said Bradford Coun. Gary Lamb. “The consideration of separating like Barrie and Orillia... might be a decent model to look at.”
Arguments both for and against reducing the size of Simcoe County council were expressed at length.
“I might get people yelling at me for this, but I think whenever we consider the way things should be, it should be representation by population,” said Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin.
“The size of (county) council can be a problem,” said Clarke. “If (Premier Doug Ford) cuts county council in half, how many politicians has he eliminated? None. So I don’t think that is his goal.”
Risks or concerns shared included the addition of red tape, losing the cultural identities of the current towns and townships should amalgamation happen and, with the loss of elected officials, the addition of more non-elected municipal staff to fill in the gaps.
“One item we have on our board is the cost of staff versus the cost of council (members),” said Wasaga Beach Deputy Mayor Sylvia Bray. “Our staff make three or four times what we do. We were talking about county council composition. Even if you cut us in half, it saves maybe $200,000 a year.”
Essa Township Mayor Sandie Macdonald suggested the county should be focusing on all the positive things that Simcoe County does compared to other regional governments so that, hopefully, the county can be used as a model for how others should operate.
“I think if we listen to Doug Ford, he’s been very clear about what he wants,” said Macdonald. “He wants less government, he wants to trim the fat and he wants to save money. What we need to do is say that we have been doing this all along and we will continue to show him how Simcoe County works and to use us as a pilot to try to better everyone else.”
By the end of the meeting, all councillors agreed they needed more information from the province. Therefore, the county will now make efforts to correspond with local MPPs to gain clarity.
Springwater Township Mayor Don Allen also identified two key components that needed to be considered as priorities: the financial implications of an amalgamation, and the cultural implications.
After the workshop was completed, Simcoe County Warden George Cornell said he was pleasantly surprised that there was a lot of commonality around the broader issues, despite not quite having the opportunity to drill down into specifics.
“I think we need to act quickly,” said Cornell. “We need to stay ahead of this, as we have been, and put forward ideas we think make sense for our county and our residents.”
“I feel pretty comfortable coming out of this and where we find ourselves. There’s some disagreement, but that’s healthy, and that’s part of this process. This was not meant to be a one-shot deal. It’s another step,” he said.
County staff will now take all suggestions put forward during the workshop and make a summarized list of issues and priorities to be added to the March 26 committee-of-the-whole agenda, at which time county council will determine next steps.
Municipalities by the numbers
During county CAO Mark Aitken’s presentation during the regional government review workshop, he played a video clip of Ontario Premier Doug Ford at a recent press conference when he made comments about the regional government review.
“What we’re trying to do is reduce the size and cost of government right across Ontario,” said Ford. “Niagara Region has 500,000 people, and 118 politicians. Toronto has 25 (politicians) for 2.8 million.”
In light of these comments, here’s how Simcoe County municipalities currently stack up against each other in regards to the number of councillors currently on the payroll.*
122 – Total number of municipal councillors county-wide, excluding the separated cities of Barrie (11 councillors) and Orillia (nine councillors)
478,025 – Population of the County of Simcoe**
5 – Number of elected officials in the smallest municipal councils in Simcoe County (Township of Essa and Township of Tiny)
10 – Number of elected officials in the largest municipal council in Simcoe County (Town of New Tecumseth)
996 – Residents per elected official in Town of Penetanguishene (Lowest in the county)
4,217 – Residents per elected official in Township of Essa (Highest in the county)
*As the separated cities of Barrie and Orillia are not being included in the regional review, they have been excluded from these numbers. However, at a population of 141,343, the City of Barrie has 11 elected officials, and at a population of 31,166, the City of Orillia has nine elected officials.
** All population numbers are from the 2016 Census
Source: County of Simcoe statistics
