blackTimmins Mayor Steve Black has written an open letter concerning numbers for the Cochrane DSSAB.

“I am writing this in response to comments appearing in the Cochrane Times Post from (Hearst) Mayor (Roger) Sigouin, (Cochrane) Mayor (Peter) Politis, and (Kapuskasing) Mayor (Al) Spacek regarding the CDSSAB funding.”

“The comments made make it seem that Timmins is asking for something that is unfair. Here is the reality, when the CDSSAB was formed Timmins paid 52% of the bill and the other 11 municipalities made up the other 48%. Since that time Timmins’ share of the bill has reached just over 63%, and the other 11 municipalities have decreased to approximately 36%. All we are asking for is a slight change to 58%, that brings us between where we started and where we are now at.

The bottom line is Timmins receives 50% of the housing services and pays 63% of the bill. Even if we went to the new formula at 58% for Timmins we would still be subsidizing our neighbours and helping them out.

On the paramedic side, Timmins receives approximately 42% of the services and pays 63% of the bill. Even at 58% we are still subsidizing the region significantly and helping out our neighbours.

The EMS and Housing Services are the two largest cost centers, making up 79% of the CDSSAB budget. You can see by the numbers above that Timmins is not asking that we don’t help out the small communities anymore. We are just asking for a model where everyone pays the same per capita cost and that it is a little more balanced and fair.

Timmins, along with Black River Matheson, Fauquier-Strickland, Moonbeam, Mattice, and Opasatika all see reduced funding in the new formula, but some mayors from the medium-sized cities would like people to believe it is Timmins versus everyone else. When the reality is the medium-sized municipalities are the ones that are currently out of line.

Kapuskasing has the smallest per capita funding. However it enjoys 24-hour ambulance coverage unlike many small municipalities and more housing units per capita than any other municipality in the CDSSAB. Yet they would still argue they should have the lowest per capita funding because of their ability to pay. However, an article titled ‘Energy expects to pay big for Kap’ published on February 2, 2014 in the Kapuskasing Times, speaks of how Kapuskasing has developed an extra revenue stream from solar panels with expected revenue of $1.5 Million for the town by 2016-2017.

This revenue is not captured in the ability to pay formulas of the CDSSAB, and no other municipality has this revenue.

In the article, Mayor Politis says it is time for smaller municipalities to ban together to ensure they don’t get taken advantage of. What he is really asking is for the smaller municipalities – such as Moonbeam, Mattice, Opasatika, Fauquier-Strickland, Matheson and others who will benefit from this – to decide to continue to tax their citizens more, so that the three medium-sized municipalities (Hearst, Cochrane, and Kapuskasing) don’t have to.

Timmins’ CDSSAB contribution for 2016 is $10,410,436. The services we receive equate to $8,711,756, meaning the taxpayers of Timmins currently pay for $1.7 Million of service provided outside our city. If the funding model is changed Timmins will still be paying approximately $1 Million more than the value of services provided in our community. To say Timmins is trying to take advantage of smaller municipalities when our taxpayers would still be paying for $1 Million of outside services to assist other municipalities is completely unfair and an attack against those of us who represent our city.

I would have to ask, does anyone in the smaller communities who stand to benefit from lower cost or increased service in the new proposed model really think that is fair? Or do you think that having everyone within a regional organization paying the same per-person cost and allowing similar service levels is fair?

I have enjoyed working together with the region over the last several years, but that has to work both ways and it has to be done in a fair and equitable manner for all. Hopefully we can accept that fairness should prevail for all and that the small and large municipalities shouldn’t pay more than their share so the medium ones can continue their financial advantage in the region.”