Category: News 2019

Draft Budget for 2020 Available for Comment

John Draper

You have to give Deputy Mayor Suzanne Séguin credit – the initial budget requests by staff were well over her 1.9% target but the draft budget being presented for approval is very close to the target.  I also appreciate the clarity in the numbers – a great job by Treasurer Ian Davey. You have to look at the numbers closely – actual expenditures excluding Police are 4.4% higher but an increase in expected revenue brings that down to 3.8%.  Then add the Police budget of $6.3M with a small 1.09% increase and include $240K of additional tax revenue because of Town growth (more taxable properties) and the total Operating budget proposed for 2020 comes to $24,262,417 or 2% over the… Read complete articleDraft Budget for 2020 Available for Comment

New Waste Programs Finally Operational

John Draper

If you live in a house in Cobourg and not certain Condos, you will now be using the new Blue Box, Grey box and Green bin program as well as continuing with garbage bags.  It’s just as well that it does not apply to Condos like the one I live in because we don’t have anywhere to put multiple boxes – friends with a house and connected garage don’t have this problem.  Our garbage gets sorted by recyclable or not then gets taken by a contractor to Lindsay!  (I don’t know what other Condos do).  It seems that Northumberland is moving the work of sorting garbage to the taxpayer instead of it being paid for by taxes.  And some recent… Read complete articleNew Waste Programs Finally Operational

Commercial Properties Update

John Draper

Although the buying and selling of commercial properties such as stores and businesses is advertised to business people, residents may also be interested in what’s happening with new owners, new businesses, new construction and other related changes.  Real Estate agents don’t always make their listings public and certainly keep actual sell prices to themselves – I guess it helps with job security. The list below comes from the Internet but it’s not known if an omission means that something has sold or simply been removed from listings. There are two groups of properties tied to personalities:  1) the “John Lee” properties – that is, they were owned by him at one point but are now being sold off – these… Read complete articleCommercial Properties Update

New Cobourg Council Completes First Year

John Draper

At the last Council meeting in 2019 on Monday December 2, several councillors mentioned that it was the anniversary of their inauguration so it seems appropriate to review highlights of their achievements in 2019.  There were of course a number of minor items and a number of contentious items – but only certain ones will be remembered.  If you are looking for a theme, I’d suggest there is now more concern for the environment, affordable housing and transparency.  All the new Councillors made their presence felt but it’s difficult to label them with what they favour – not to mention politically risky. The world of Cobourg was of course not just what happened at Council – see the list of… Read complete articleNew Cobourg Council Completes First Year

Affordable Housing CIP Public Meeting

John Draper

Towns are not legally permitted to financially support private (that is, for profit) companies unless they are meeting a  community need AND it’s covered by a “Community Improvement Plan” (CIP).  So far in Cobourg, we have two CIPs: the Tannery District CIP and the Downtown Vitalization CIP.  On December 5, a third CIP project was launched with an open house.  Held in the Citizen’s Forum at Victoria Hall, more than 30 people came to learn about the new Plan for Affordable and Rental Housing and provide feedback to the consultants hired to develop the plan.  The intent is to define ways to assist the recently released Northumberland County Affordable Housing Strategy (AHS) as well as promoting sustainable, accessible economic development. … Read complete articleAffordable Housing CIP Public Meeting

Northumberland Ontario Health Team Announced

John Draper

On June 6, 2019, the Provincial Connecting Care Act came into force.  This governs a complete revision to how Health Care is managed in Ontario. The biggest change for Northumberland will be that the role of LHINs will be much reduced and replaced by Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) which will be overseen by a new agency Ontario Health.  Today, Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health announced the approval of the Northumberland Ontario Health Team.  The idea is that the OHTs will manage and ensure integration of all health services in a geographic area – in this case Northumberland.  Or as MPP David Piccini puts it in a Press Release: “Through an Ontario Health Team, patients will experience easier transitions… Read complete articleNorthumberland Ontario Health Team Announced

Plan to Preserve Natural Heritage

John Draper

The County is working on a project to map the County’s Natural Heritage features.  The idea is to identify what should be preserved – things like woodlands, streams, wetlands and grasslands.  It’s called a Natural Heritage System Plan (NHS Plan) because they are all interconnected.  The requirement to have this kind of plan was specified by the Province some time ago.  On Monday December 2,  the second of a series of meetings was held to explain this to the Public and solicit feedback.  As usual, not a lot of people showed up – I counted 15 – and these seemed to be mostly concerned with issues not covered by the plan.  The consultants presenting the details said that they were… Read complete articlePlan to Preserve Natural Heritage

Cobourg and Social Services

John Draper

The County has prime responsibility for providing social services and that includes affordable housing.  At Monday’s Council meeting, Christine Pacini of SHS Consulting presented a report on the County’s Affordable Housing strategy as it affected Cobourg.  She provided definitions of what is considered affordable and how incentives can help. She briefly mentioned the County’s current project on Elgin Street (see link below) and supported the Town’s plan to provide incentives via a Town Wide Community Improvement Plan (CIP) for affordable housing.  This will be launched at a public meeting on December 5 – details below.  At the same meeting, Kristina Nairn of the Haliburton, Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit (HKPR) asked that Council consider being certified as a “living… Read complete articleCobourg and Social Services