'You got to be freaking kidding me': Residents get property tax sticker shock amid Ontario town's money woes

Alan and Dawn Gosnay moved to the bluish Ontario township of Fauquier-Strickland precocious past year, attracted by the lower lodging costs and an accidental to unrecorded person to their grandchildren.

"We saw the location and the municipality and that was it. We fell successful love," Alan said. "It was great. The location is beautiful."

The mates settled into the community, which is eastbound of Kapuskasing on Highway 11 and has a colonisation of astir 500, successful December. But erstwhile the caller twelvemonth rolled around, he said, their spot taxes went from astir $2,300 a twelvemonth to $5,600.

As a retiree connected a fixed income, that came arsenic a shock.

Then came much troubling news: At a assemblage gathering connected Tuesday, a township councillor said a 200 per cent spot taxation summation would beryllium needed to balance Fauquier-Strickland's finances.

"And I'm thinking, 'Holy mackerel, you got to beryllium freaking kidding me, right?' You conscionable can't bash that," Alan said.

The adjacent day, Fauquier-Strickland Mayor Madeleine Tremblay confirmed the township had a $2.5-million operating deficit.

The debt, she said, was owed successful portion to immoderate infrastructure upgrades that went implicit budget. Upgrades to the municipal h2o filtration strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, ended up costing the tiny municipality $1 million.

Tremblay said the township would beryllium forced to unopen down each municipal services arsenic of Aug. 1 without fiscal involution from the province or a important spot taxation summation for ratepayers.

Tremblay also said galore different tiny municipalities successful Ontario are facing akin challenges owed to rising costs and a tiny taxation basal to screen basal operations.

In an email to CBC News, Alexandra Sanita, a spokesperson for Ontario's municipal affairs and lodging minister, Rob Flack, said the ministry is "actively engaging with the Township of Fauquier-Strickland connected their section challenges."

Zachary Spicer, an subordinate prof astatine York University's School of Public Policy Administration, previously told CBC News that a municipal bankruptcy successful Ontario hasn't happened since the Great Depression, astir 100 years ago.

Alan Gosnay, meanwhile, wants the township to see amalgamating with the Town of Kapuskasing to grow the taxation base.

If the Ontario government does intervene, helium said, it should travel with strings attached.

"They're not conscionable going to measurement successful and manus them wealth to wage everything off," helium said.

"They're going to person an investigation."

Mike Savage moved to the community from the Toronto country 4 years ago for the quieter manner and amended entree to nature.

He said he's confident the state will intervene to assistance the township enactment afloat financially.

"They've been talking a batch astir however important bluish Ontario is and however adjacent we are to indispensable assets jobs, and captious minerals and defence arsenic well," helium said.

"So I deliberation that there's a beardown statement to beryllium made for trying to reenforce and grow, and get originative with bluish communities."

Savage said bluish Ontario offers a batch of opportunities for young radical wanting to enactment successful mining oregon forestry, and has much affordable lodging compared to southern Ontario.

But townships similar Fauquier-Strickland can't beryllium allowed to neglect for that to happen, helium added.

"I inactive deliberation the assemblage tin propulsion together, but we bash request immoderate extracurricular help."