Tag Archives: Elgin county

07.20.09
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Central Elgin Ratepayers Assoc. address to C.E. council July 20/09

Central Elgin Ratepayers Association, CERA, was formed primarily to influence the Council of the Municipality of Central Elgin to do the right thing when it comes to the local property tax burden.

Officially incorporated on May 15, 2009, in just two months CERA now has over 240 members. A recent survey of our members indicated that the Harbour negotiations with Transport Canada was our members’ second priority, after high taxes. Thank goodness, Dan McNeil saw fit to uncover many of the shenanigans in this protracted duel between Transport Canada and Central Elgin Council.

The community is in Harbour negotiation burnout. Only 70 citizens of a population of 12,500 showed up for the re-launched edition Harbour Community Workshop! It’s a sad, misleading commentary when media releases from the municipality and the consultants extol the great turnout at the first session. How can a $100,000 grant from Transport Canada, that’s trying to dump the Harbour on Central Elgin, not positively influence their agenda?
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05.28.09
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Rural schools unfairly targeted, parent finds

Small rural schools are being shuttered at a disproportionate rate around London, even though half-empty city schools remain open, say Middlesex County advocates for a coalition to fight rural school closings.

Karen Aranha of Glencoe said she crunched the Thames Valley District school board’s numbers and found most of its empty classroom spaces are in London, but most school closings are in Middlesex, Oxford and Elgin counties.
Full story

05.28.09
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Sales are Job No. 1 for Elgin county

From the St. Thomas Times-Journal

A committee aimed at keeping Ford’s St. Thomas Assembly Plant in business is taking aim at police forces across the country.
That’s according to Jim McIntyre, county councillor and mayor of Southwold township, who, with representatives from St. Thomas and the county, particularly from the economic development and tourism office, met May 14 in Toronto with provincial ministers to talk about the future of the Ford plant.
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05.12.09
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New Association to Monitor Municipal and County Government

Municipality of Central Elgin, Ontario, May 12, 2009 – Dismayed by a lack of transparency from municipal government, ineffectiveness in controlling costs at the municipal and county levels, and the risks of assuming the Port Stanley Harbour, a group of local citizens has formed the Central Elgin Ratepayers Association.

“The Municipality of Central Elgin has one of the highest property tax rates and water charges in Ontario” said Bruce Lemon, President. “To continually base new annual budgets on budgets from prior years rather than actual expenditures is a formula for excessive taxation.”

“We’re particularly concerned about plans to acquire the Port Stanley Harbour” Helen Garton, Vice President of the Association advised. “The acquisition will result in excessive taxes to the community if a proper long-term business plan isn’t finalized before acquisition.”
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05.02.09
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The answer’s still blowin’ in the wind turbine

Erie Shores Wind Farm

Erie Shores Wind Farm

Posted by Ian:
The subject of the Toronto Star report is the Erie Shores Wind Farms, located about 30 minutes east of St. Thomas in the Port Burwell area. More than 80 gleaming wind turbines spread out through farmers fields above the north shore of Lake Erie …

“Had a foot that (didn’t) heal before I moved out of the house.”

Could wind turbines be to blame?

“Yes,” says Glen Wylds, whose southwestern Ontario farmhouse is less than a kilometre from a dozen of them. “They took life away as we knew it before the wind farm,” Wylds, 56, added in a survey that drew substantial media attention.

The ripple of controversy prompted Premier Dalton McGuinty to vaguely promise to investigate: “We’ll take advantage of the very best information that’s out there to make sure that we’re doing something that’s intelligent,” he said after Dr. Robert McMurtry, a former dean of medicine at the University of Western Ontario, presented the survey results.

Blaming a bad foot on wind turbines sounds far-fetched.
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04.20.09
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Oegema Turkey Farms, an Elgin county success story

Oegema Turkey Farms, Talbotville

Oegema Turkey Farms, Talbotville


Sales of whole and processed turkey products at the farm store run by Mike and Wayne Oegema, in Elgin county, have increased both annually and in month-to-month comparisons, reports Better Farming.

But Oegema Turkey Farms Inc. is going to cut back production by 2,000 birds from the 55,000 they normally raise annually.

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04.06.09
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Provincial funding assists Elgin municipalities with water systems

A provincial government program will assist with the operation of Bayham’s water system.

Across the province, the Ontario Small Waterworks Assistance Program Part Two will assist small communities to deliver safe and clean drinking water. Elgin County municipalities will receive $182,339 from the program, and Bayham $40,020. Funding will be provided over four years.
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04.04.09
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Wind farm helps end coal use: Smitherman

The Enbridge wind turbine project near Underwood is a step toward eliminating coal-fired electricity generation, Ontario Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Infrastructure George Smitherman said Friday at the project’s official opening.

It also provides economic stimulus for farmers, increases the tax base and provides employment, he said.

Full story

04.02.09
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Ain’t life grand, $100 grand that is

From the St. Thomas Times-Journal

Nineteen local public sector employees have joined the so-called Sunshine Club for public sector workers earning more than $100,000 in 2008.

Under the Public Sector Disclosure Act, the name and salary of employees earning more than $100,000 are published yearly.

The biggest increase in this area came for St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital which saw seven new employees earn salaries in excess of $100,000. Three of those were registered nurses and CEO Paul Collins said it’s now normal to find them with six-figure salaries. Continue reading →