An Oliver-Paipoonge councillor is watching financial savings disappear after a failed merger with Conmee Township.
After Monday night’s vote, Brandon Postuma says the merger would have meant a 3.4-percent tax levy drop, and giving the money back to taxpayers.
“If we combine that with the other 3-percent municipal levy drop that we’ve been giving to municipal residents, we could’ve provided Oliver-Paipoonge with a 6.4% municipal tax levy drop, we would’ve been on national news, but, they didn’t support it,” says Postuma.
He adds they needed to do a better job selling the idea to area residents, especially in the face of false information. Postuma says he voted against the merger because people didn’t want it, adding they heard taxes would go up, something he says was not true.
“Taxes are going up 1%, that’s what I heard. When actually what they should have heard was that option on the tax levy was giving them a 1% drop, not a 1-percent increase. So, it was just too much misinformation,” says the municipal councillor.
He also points to too many people with their own political agenda that got in the way.
And a merger, Postuma says, would also have meant growth, adding a report to council showed immediate savings of $330,000 with a merger. “I aggressively wanted those savings because I wanted to build a car museum. We have the car museum that’s going to cost $500,000, and it’s equivalent to 5% of the municipal money. We can build a car museum for half a million dollars, or we can give you a 5% tax levy drop.”
The municipal councillor adds more households would have meant more tax base leading to more projects and growth.
