Town reports $37M in cash, updates permit bylaw and moves ahead with new sanitary main

HEDDY SOROUR

Carleton Place council reviewed its audited financials, approved additional road work thanks to savings, and continued planning discussions at the April 22 Committee of the Whole.

Audited Financial statement

Carleton Place council received the town’s audited financial statement at the April 22 committee of the whole meeting. According to Oscar Poloni from KPMG there was nothing significant that as an auditor he was required to report.

“You are in a very strong financial position with $37 million in the bank and $48 million in total financial assets,” said Poloni. “Your financial position is quite sound on the basis that you have $37 million in cash and $37 million in reserves so they are actually funded.”

He said the town has done a good job of building its reserves since 2020, because with inflation if the reserves stayed the same the town would lose purchasing power. 

Meanwhile, tax arrears are at the 10 per cent mark which he said is considered low.

Poloni also pointed out that while the town is showing an $11 million surplus it is not to be mistaken for profit.  

“That surplus is used specifically to fund capital projects, reserve transfers and other items,” he said.

The town’s audited financial statement is available for the public viewing on the town’s website.

Development Permit By-law

The town held a development permit bylaw amendment public meeting during the meeting, and invites the public to view the draft document on the town’s website and submit any comments or concerns to staff no later than May 2.

“We are always open to the public’s comments and input,” said Tyler Duval, senior planner.

This bylaw is a planning tool that combines zoning bylaws, minor variances and site plan control all in one single process, allowing greater flexibility with land use provisions in municipalities.

“Many of the changes were made to improve administration of the document, and allow applicants to know how to make their way through the development permit approval process,” said Marc Rivet, consultant with J.L. Richards.

The bylaw has been amended to add holding provisions for servicing and transportation studies to deal with battery energy storage and systems, update language dealing with cannabis production and home industries, and add sections on encroachment and accessory buildings.  

It also deals with parking provisions both residential and commercial, provides for a wider range of housing types in the downtown and Mississippi District, and adds a green development checklist.

“The document has been updated to be more user friendly and bring it up to date with new regulations and legislation,” said Rivet.

Additional Road

Unexpected low bids on several road projects mean the Town of Carleton Place is going to be able to service Charles Street from Emily Street to Lake Avenue West using surplus funds.

“We had four bids come in, all of them under budget. Three of them (were) significantly under budget — so much so that I’m here tonight to ask you to include an additional street into this year’s road program,” said Guy Bourgon, director of public works.

The lowest bid that met all the town’s criteria was from Starthmar Trenching Limited and came in at $1.18 million out of a $1.5 million budget leaving a surplus of $318,800.

“In our asset management plan, we have condition assessments that we do every year on all streets. We’re trying to get all the streets that are in the worst condition done first. So, Charles Street was the next one that fit into the surplus funds that we had,” said Bourgon.

New Sanitary main benefits from collaboration

Last year the town tendered a project for upsizing a sanitary main that would cut across the frontage of the Your Independent Grocer but the project came in well over budget and was rejected by council.  

That sanitary main is necessary to the development of both the Carleton Lifestyles and the Franktown subdivisions.

“So, through negotiations we have been able to leverage their [Carleton Lifestyles and Franktown subdivision] capacity to offset that cost and they will be funding the cost of construction and the town will contribute $401,000 and change as budgeted by council in 2024, and we will complete the project this year,” said Niki Dwyer, director of development services.

The partnership allows the two subdivisions to move forward instead of waiting for an upgrade that had already been delayed once.