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PEMBROKE COUNCIL BRIEFS: Main street revitalization, OPP billing, commercial and industrial sub-class tax rates

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Local health care services

Pembroke council has endorsed the Town of Kingsville’s resolution to encourage the Ontario government to halt the closures of, mergers of, and cuts to local health care services including Public Health Units, land ambulance services, hospitals and long-term care homes.

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Pembroke Planning and Development Committee

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Main street revitalization initiative

Pembroke’s Planning and Development Committee has decided to add the remaining money it received from Ontario’s Main Street Revitalization Initiative through the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to the city’s Community Improvement Plan (CIP) for applicants. The city received a total of $49,926.28 with just over $25,000 having been spent so far on new benches and receptacles for the downtown core. After being presented with four options, committee voted to add the remaining $22,387.30 to the CIP. The vote was not unanimous with Coun. Abdallah stating there should be some consultation with the Pembroke Business Improvement Area first. The options that were presented but committee turned down were replacing two more streetlights in the downtown core; revamping Shamrock Park with accessible interlocking brick and adding two accessible picnic tables; and considering other options like curb repairs on Moffat and Church streets or the purchase of a public art piece for the downtown core. The remaining funding must be spent by March 31, 2020.

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Finance and Administration Committee

2020 O.P.P. billing

City staff have received the 2020 Annual Billing Statement for Ontario Provincial Police policing services. The contract will decrease one per cent from 2019 to $4,251,282 and will be further reduced by $35,097 due to a 2018 year-end reconciliation adjustment. The cost per property for policing in the City of Pembroke is estimated to be $607.33.

Open house on commercial and industrial sub-class reductions

Pembroke council wants to inform ratepayers and gather feedback on potential changes to the commercial and industrial sub-class tax rate reductions.

An open house on the topic is being held on Nov. 21 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Pembroke City Hall. Ratepayers with a property in the affected classes will be contacted by mail advising them of the potential change and the open house.

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The current reductions for vacant land and excess land in the commercial and industrial class is 30 per cent and 35 per cent respectively. The Municipal Act prescribes the tax rates in these sub-classes shall be reduced by not less than 30 per cent, and not more than 35 per cent. Council expressed an interest to reduce the sub-class reductions by 10 per cent in 2020, 20 per cent in 2021 and eliminate the reductions in 2022. After reviewing the feedback it receives, council will decide whether or not to move forward with changing the reductions. If council opts to proceeds, a request for a regulatory change will be submitted to the Minister of Finance.

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