Chasing Transparency from Grey County

As our members are well aware, the BMRA has consistently made efforts to push Grey County for greater transparency and accountability.  We in TBM bear a significant tax levy.  

40% of our tax dollars go to the County, and our taxes represent fully 30% of the County's total tax revenues.

Therefore, we believe that Grey should be forthcoming with financial data.

Capital Spending is the issue, not Services

We certainly understand that TBM sends more funding to support County services than we receive back. Other Grey Municipalities have greater need for County social services than our Town, so the financial allocation for services seems appropriate.

But it’s on the capital side of the equation that we question the fairness of our County financial obligations.

Development Charges - a key to sustainable growth

Grey raises capital funds - the funds needed for roads, water and other infrastructure -  through grants from higher-tier governments, from borrowing, and most importantly, through Development Charges(DCs).  

The county doesn’t advertise this: not all of the municipalities contribute DCs to the County.  But all municipalities benefit from the DC’s that are contributed.  TBM has contributed the lion's share of DCs in Grey over the past decade.  So, it is reasonable to assume that we would see a substantial level of capital investment from the County.

For growth to be sustainable, it must be supported through infrastructure investment.

So, we would hope that the County would at least be reinvesting all the funds it has raised from TBM, if not even a somewhat greater share of total spending.

Is TBM being treated fairly?

This leads us to ask: where, and how, are the County’s capital funds being spent?  We have a right to know.  

Therefore, the BMRA made a formal request through a deputation to the County Financial Committee in June, requesting a "Capital Sources and Uses" report.

This would answer the important questions we have been asking about capital spending in Grey - how much funding is raised from each of the Municipalities, and how is the capital spending spread amongst them. Only with that information can we be certain that TBM is being treated fairly.

Grey Refuses our requests for transparency

After a few months of back and forth, Grey County has officially declined our request, stating that it would be too labour intensive to create the report.

This experience reaffirms our view that our relationship with Grey County does not seem equitable. And this issue is too important for the BMRA to simply accept the County's refusal to provide what we've requested, and move on to address other matters.

Our Plan

We will be pursuing other avenues, including both leveraging our Provincial connections, and other legislative options available to us.  That would start with filing a Freedom of Information submission, to source the required data.

We will of course keep our members informed as this moves forward.

BMRA

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