WELLINGTON NORTH — Funding options for the Mount Forest pool would result in an equivalent tax cost per-household of either $1,053, $897 or $584, depending on fundraising.
The municipality can also choose between one to four years to pay it off, a new report heading to council's Tuesday meeting says.
The total cost of the new pool is estimated at $5.3 million.
The possible fundraising targets are $250,000, $1 million or $2.5 million.
At $250,000 for fundraising, the equivalent tax cost per household would be $1,053 paid over one to four years.
At $1 million of fundraising, the equivalent tax cost per household would be $897 between one to four years.
Or at $2.5 million of fundraising, the equivalent tax cost per household would be $584 over the course of one to four years.
The report notes that a special tax levy for the Louise Marshall Hospital Foundation in 2015 got some opposition.
“In 2015, a decision of Council was made to collect a quarter million dollar donation for the Louise Marshall Hospital Foundation renovation, which resulted in a $14.50 annual tax impact to residential properties.
“This was a significant impact to local taxpayers and an item that drew significant resident feedback,” stated a staff report by Brooke Lambert, CAO, Farhad Hossain, director of finance and Matthew Aston, director of operations.
Some of the options for the township to cover the cost of the pool include taxes, debt or community fundraising.
One option going forward is to do a study on the appetite for community fundraising to pay for a local pool. Just the study would cost $10,000 to $40,000.
At the Feb. 21, 7 p.m. meeting of the Wellington North council, it will have the option to vote to revisit these costs as part of the 2023 budget talks.
Jesse Gault is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
