By John Francis, Bruce Peninsula Press
The Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula held a Zoom Public Meeting on April 29 about the proposed Short-Term Accommodation (STA) regulations.
The vast majority of people who spoke or commented at the meeting seemed to fall into two categories — those who support the proposed regulations as circulated and those who support regulation in principle but would like to see some revisions.
There was also a bit of pushback — couple of speakers dismissed the initiative as “just a cash grab”.
I’d like to parse that comment. What, exactly, is wrong with a cash grab?
Northern Bruce Peninsula has by far the lowest tax rate in Bruce County (probably the lowest in Ontario). If our tax rate doubled, it would still only be “average”.
As a result, our communities are chronically underserviced and our infrastructure is either crumbling or paid for by somebody else (and frequently both).
Think of the washrooms at Tobermory’s community centre and the adjacent ball diamond — they are frequently closed because the water supply runs dry every time it doesn’t rain for two weeks.
Think of the Rotary Hall and the arena in Lion’s Head — both too expensive to repair without assistance from senior levels of government. (Fortunately we just got a grant to upgrade the arena but it’s been needed for 25 years. The historic Rotary Hall is still twisting in the wind.)
If you want the perfect image of infrastructure in MNBP, it’s the Spring Creek bridge on Ira Lake Road. The bridge is decrepit — literally crumbling — and it was built by the Province of Ontario in 1925, when Ira Lake Road was the provincial highway to Tobermory. Now it’s a municipal “asset”; we can’t really afford to fix it, because it would cost approximately 10% of an entire year’s budget, but we don’t want to close down Ira Lake Road either.
Think of the sidewalks in our municipality — most of them have one thing in common — they were paid for by somebody else. Main Street in Lion’s Head is Bruce County Road 9. Front St, Eliza St and Carlton St in Tobermory, are all provincial Highway 6. Then there’s the walkway along the east side of Little Tub Harbour (federal works program, 1986-87) and the sidewalk on Head Street, north of Brock Street (paid for by Parks Canada).
A huge increase in vehicle traffic has made it increasingly dangerous to walk or cycle in MNBP. Sidewalks and bike lanes are urgently needed throughout our municipality, especially Bay Street, Harpur Drive and Big Tub Road in Tobermory and many streets and roads in and around Lion’s Head and Ferndale. Even if we don’t pave them, these sidewalks and bike lanes would represent a huge investment for a municipality with an annual budget under $7 million.
It’s much the same with services. Bylaw Enforcement used to be Monday to Friday, 8:00AM to 4:30PM. As visitor numbers increased, this became inadequate — evening and weekend enforcement was needed. But how should we pay for it? Many residents and cottagers insisted that the problems were mostly caused by visitors and should somehow be paid for by visitors, not out of taxes.
Paid parking in Tobermory solved that problem, funding an increase in Bylaw Enforcement to 8:00AM to midnight, seven days a week. But it’s getting to the point that a single person can’t handle the volume. Paid parking elsewhere around the municipality will add to the budget, but it won’t be enough to also provide the washrooms, sidewalks, and signage we need, let alone municipal water and sewer systems.
We need all the cash we can get our hands on. So, by all means, raise municipal taxes. But let’s also acknowledge that many of the infrastructure and service shortfalls are caused by the increased visitor numbers. MNBP residents don’t need public washrooms and they don’t park blocking your driveway — it’s visitors.
A 4% Municipal Accommodation Tax would be a big help in funding the improvements and services we need to accommodate and manage those visitors.
