The Oxtongue Front Page
THEFTS IN OXTONGUE — SPREAD THE WORD
There has been a growing number of significant thefts in the Oxtongue area, both at hunt camps and at private homes and cottages — propane tanks, firewood, tools from toolsheds. It is IMPERATIVE that any suspicious activity or any theft be reported immediately to the OPP. Talk with your neighbors and keep an eye open for signs of any suspicious activity around or on your or your neighbors’ property:
Report any such activity immediately to the OPP.
| Read about the OPP’s Cottage Watch program |
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Oxtongue Photographs by Liz Margarucci
Any and all members of the Oxtongue Lake Community who have business websites are invited to post them on the Oxtongue Lake Businesses page.
Send your links to the WebGuy!
Visit Tracie Parrott’s website:
ALGONQUIN HIGHLANDS TRAIL RIDING
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FAMILY DAY EVENT ON THE LAKE
Everyone Welcome! February 13, 2010
The Algonquin Snowmobile Club along with Mountain Trout House Marina and the Yamaha Power Tour are hosting a family day event on Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 (11am - 4pm) on the ice in front of Blue Spruce at Oxtongue Lake. We will be having a BBQ, a snowmobile skills competition and will have new model Yamaha snowmobile available for test rides. Contact Marlene Kyle if you have questions regarding this event or would like to volunteer to help out the snowmobile club.
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— RECENT AIRPORT NEWS —
Note: Andy Muirhead has updated his “Nice Little Airport“ website
January 16, 2010 — Text of letter submitted to Minden Times by Andy Muirhead
January 12, 2010 — County Voice — Ontario Municipal Board Set to Mediate Airport Land Acquisitions
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— NOTICE TO OXTONGUE LAKE PHOTOGRAPHERS! —
THE WEBGUY is looking for community-oriented winter pictures to post on the website — you know, like the entire Oxtongue Lake Volunteer Fire Department making snow angels in front of the Fire Hall. Send in your pics!
THE SNOWMOBILE CLUB is looking for local, current snowmobile-oriented pictures (last two years).
If you have some, please email them to the James Smith.
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NOTE NEW PAGES/LINKS:
TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup
Read up on the Invading Species Awareness Program
24 Community Letters of PROTEST AGAINST the Stanhope Airport Expansion
10 Community Letters of SUPPORT FOR the Stanhope Airport Expansion
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OLD HEADLINES
* REMEMBER TO GRAB COPIES OF:
THE COUNTY VOICE
THE ECHO
THE MINDEN TIMES
THE BRACEBRIDGE EXAMINER
and THE GRAVENHURST BANNER
AT A NEWSSTAND NEAR YOU! *
CANADA PREPARES FOR 2010 G8 MEETING BY INVESTING $50 MIL IN HUNTSVILLE
“County Gets Million Dollars for High Speed” — Read Martha Perkin’s article in the Echo
“Could Oxtongue Lake Bridge Replacements Devastate the Community?” — Read text of Liz Danielsen’s County Voice article:
“Oxtongue Lake Community Centre Hangs in the Balance” — Read text of Liz Danielsen’s County Voice article:
MTO Announces Preferred Plans for Two Oxtongue Bridges
Six Lake Association Presidents join forces to cut off funding for the airport
Ontario Lakes for the Future initiative
Council votes FOR Airport Expansion
Proposed Hwy 60 speed limit change
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Greetings from the Reptiles at Risk on the Road Project
Our project is a partnership between Sciensational Sssnakes!!, Scales Nature Park, Laurentian University, and CARCNET. We have received funding from Environment Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program and the Ministry of Natural Resources Species at Risk Stewardship Fund to provide educational programming about reptiles at risk. We have a variety of target areas where Ontario’s reptile species at risk may be found and are looking for events such as cottage association meetings and festivals in these areas that would work well for one of our free programs. At this time we are scheduling programs for the months of June to August, but it is possible that the program will continue into the fall.
Many cottage areas in Ontario are home to reptile species at risk, and we would like to visit as many of them as possible over the coming months. We are asking you to help us by contacting us with any meetings or events that your group will be having this summer that might work well for one of our programs. Please understand that we will not be able to visit all venues.
Our programs are run in two parts, beginning with a 40-45 minute presentation about various native species. This is followed by a hands-on experience where the audience is given the opportunity to touch or hold many of the animals and ask questions. Many of the species we use in our programs are species at risk in Ontario, and we feel that education is one way to ensure these animals will be present for future generations.
For more information please visit
www.reptilesatrisk.org or www.scisnake.com . Feel free to contact us by e-mail with any questions, or you can reach us by phone at 705-327-2353.
Thank you for your assistance, and we look forward to hearing from you in the very near future.
Robin Manley
Senior Interpreter
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FOCA is pleased that the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines introduced legislation today (April 30) to modernize Ontario’s Mining Act.
FOCA has been represented on the Ministers Mining Act Advisory Committee for many years. We are pleased that many of the shortcomings we identified through this forum appear to have been addressed within this legislation. These include:
· Removing some private lands completely from staking and exploration;
· Enhanced notification of private land owners of claim-staking and prior to exploration;
· The introduction of map staking, eliminating the need for prospectors to physically enter onto private lands.
While FOCA is encouraged by the introduction of this enabling legislation, the ultimate results will be manifested in the regulations that will accompany the bill and which will follow passing of the legislation.
Click here for more information on the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, and to read more about FOCA’s involvement on this issue, click here.
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An Open Letter to the Taxpayers of Algonquin Highlands
by The Executive of The Maple, Beech and Cameron Lakes Area Property Owners Association
Building Canada’s decision to fund a portion of the cost of the new runway at Stanhope Airport has dealt a severe blow to the people of Algonquin Highlands - a blow to our confidence in our political system.
We entrust our elected officials to represent our best interests; to spend and invest our hard earned dollars wisely. We expect them to put our collective interests above their personal pet projects. We expect value for our dollars.
This project gives us none of this.
The members of council who pushed this project forward chose to override the enormous swell of pubic opposition, indeed indignation, from all corners of the Township, to pursue a project that has no identifiable or quantifiable merits. NONE.
In spite of all the attempts by council to stonewall the public, people learned the facts about this project and opposition grew. The councillor who did the most research became the most opposed to it.
A $4 Million project without merit. All of the dollars coming from us as taxpayers - federally, provincially and locally. Wham! And here’s the irony: over the last number of years this community has fought hard to keep our libraries and community centres open with relatively negligible funding from this same council. At the same time our volunteer fire department budget was stripped of critically needed funding – the very same department that will be called upon for specialized training, equipment and faster response times to respond to fires from the larger planes that are supposedly going to use this new runway.
Airport ahead of community. Airport before effective emergency and fire protection.
Shame on these councillors and shame on the federal government that too willingly is providing $ millions of our money, against our collective will, for a project that offers no tangible benefits.
We will continue to pursue all remedies to stop this incredible waste of taxpayers’ dollars.
At this moment our political system has failed us. The repair it needs will only come through continued participation; input and diligence from people who care enough to stand up and be heard.
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HOW TO FIGHT YOUR PROPERTY ASSESSMENT
Background Information
- MPAC sent out new assessments this November
- They are based on supposed market values as of January 1 2008
- Our analysis shows that the average assessment on and around our 3 lakes increased by approximately 60-65%
- The average increase in all of Algonquin Highlands was 38.6%
- This means that, if our municipality rolls back their mill rate by the full 38.6%, our average member will face a property tax increase of 26% (65-39)
- to be phased in over 4 years at 6.5% per year
In addition, you will also have to pay your share of the municipality’s spending increase. If that averages 3% a year (as our Reeve is forecasting), it means your total annual increase will be 9.5% for each of the next 4 years (a 38 % increase by year 4)
Further complications
There are 3 portions to our property taxes –each calculated separately. In each case if your assessment increase is higher than the average they use - your taxes will increase. Here are the 3 areas and the average they will use in each
o Municipal – average 38.6%
o Education – average 20% (a province wide average)
o County – average 40%
As an example – if your assessment went up 60% then the education portion of your property taxes will increase by 40% (60-20). The increase will be phased in over 4 years – so the education portion of your property taxes will go up by 10% a year for each of the next 4 years. One third of your tax bill pays for education.
What happens when real estate prices drop?
We have to wait 4 years for a new assessment (just after the next provincial election)
We know that in 1990, when the last major crack in the real estate market occurred, properties that had risen most in value in the late ’80’s were the ones that dropped most in the early ’90s. This means that home and cottage owners who get hit with the greatest “assessment-related tax increases” are the same ones whose values could drop the most as the real estate market softens. They will have to wait until 2012 to find out whether that decline still exists and until 2013 to see whether that results in a drop in their taxes. The corollary to that is that if the market in fact remains soft, in particular in cottage country, there could be a massive shift of tax in 2013 back onto properties off water. Since value declines are reflected immediately, this could lead to a major upheaval in municipalities with a significant waterfront component.
If your assessment is not accurate – you can appeal
What is MPAC ?
MPAC, established by the provincial government in 1998, is a non-profit corporation charged with putting a value on each of more than four million properties in the province, based on a current value assessment (CVA). Each municipality sets its tax rate, and then applies it to that assessed property value to come up with the property tax amount. So if MPAC assesses your property value at $300,000 and your municipality sets its tax rate at one per cent, your taxes will be 300,000 x .01, or $3,000.
How does MPAC really know what a cottage property is worth when each is unique and there are few comparables? Bob Topp – head of WRAFT is critical of the system in place, which requires MPAC to put a value on these difficult-to-assess properties using limited data; however, Larry Hummel, the vice-president of property values at MPAC, explains that the corporation assesses all properties by applying variables from a list of more than 200 possibilities.
It’s more complicated to figure out the value of a waterfront property than, say, a house in an inland suburb because there are more variables involved. They include, for instance, the quality of the shoreline: Is it rocky, weedy, gently sloped, steep?
Still, 85 per cent of the value of any property is typically found in just five key variables: location (which includes the lake the property is on), size of lot (which includes water frontage), size of home (or cottage), age of home, and quality of construction. Hummel is confident that MPAC gets it right most of the time. He says the question to ask yourself when you scrutinize your cottage property assessment is:
“Could I have sold my property for that price on January 1, 2008 (the current assessment date for all Ontario properties)?” If the answer is yes, then MPAC did its job. If not then you should appeal!
How to appeal
- Should you disagree with your assessment you can request more information—MPAC has a new website where you can view your own and neighbours’ assessments in detail – do this first.
2. If you haven’t already done so, register on the MPAC website for AboutMyProperty, which will give you access to a more detailed profile report on your property, plus those of your neighbours for comparison. You’ll be able to see the selling price of properties that have changed hands since they were last assessed, and the variables that MPAC used in their current assessment. The report will list such details as the square footage of the buildings, the water frontage, and whether a property is road or water access.
3. Take note of any details about your own property that are incorrect—the report lists a garage, for example, and the garage has been torn down—
4. But if, after studying your own and your neighbours’ assessments, you feel MPAC has set your property’s value too high, then you should file a request for reconsideration. (Call 866-296-6722 for the form or download it online.)
a. This request must be filed by March 31, 2009.
b. In a change from previous years, you must file a request before you will be allowed to appeal. No request, no appeal.
c. Since municipalities don’t set their tax rates and budgets until later in the spring, after they get the assessments, your request needs to happen before you even know how your assessment will impact your municipal taxes.
5. Include in your request any information you think will support your case. This might be appraisal reports, photographs, or insurance inspection reports. “Make the job easy for the assessor to correct the value,”
6. MPAC will send you back a response.
a. If it adjusts your assessment and you accept the adjustment, then you will be required to sign a binding agreement to that effect;
b. However, if you don’t agree or if it won’t adjust your assessment, you will need to file an appeal to the Assessment Review Board (ARB) within 90 days of receiving the response.
c. You will then be sent a notice of when your appeal hearing will be held. The ARB, a provincial tribunal set up to hear property-assessment appeals, conducts hearings across Ontario. Submissions to include in your appeal are similar to what you prepared for the request for reconsideration. The vast majority of property owners choose to represent themselves at appeal hearings because potential tax savings generally aren’t high enough to justify paying for professional help. An adjustment of $50,000 at a tax rate of one per cent, for example, is a savings of only $500.
Remember - Appeal rules have changed, too: Now the onus is on MPAC to establish that it has done a correct assessment.
o Seven days before a hearing, the corporation is required to share its case, including the comparables it used to justify the assessment, in a letter to the property owner.
o At a hearing, which will typically be in front of a single ARB panel member, the MPAC representative will present its case first.
o The property owner should be prepared to present any evidence that refutes that of MPAC and be ready to ask questions about the other side’s case. Again, photographs and other materials that make the case for a lower assessment are helpful.
o In most cases, the ARB panel member will give his or her decision on the spot and make any assessment adjustments immediately. Any reduction that is applied to the current value is carried forward to the next taxation year or, if it is not, MPAC is required to explain why on the next assessment notice.
Key Information to provide to MPAC
- Any inaccuracies in the property information they have listed
- Comparisons to other properties in your immediate area that demonstrate that your assessment cannot be correct
- Be careful with this as you are trying to get your assessment decreased – not increase your neighbours!
- Market information for sales in your area
- Remember they only care about the market value as of January 1 2008
- Any appraisal information on your property for Jan 2008
Regardless of your decision – if you feel, as I do, that this system is unfair and in fact broken please sign the petition on WRAFT’s website at- http://www.wraft.com/home.php
Prepared for 
members with information from WRAFT, CAPTR and Cottage Life Magazine.
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Lake Associations Band Together Against Airport Expansion
by Liz Danielsen
for the County Voice
The Algonquin Highlands Council may have submitted their request to Building Canada for airport expansion funding, but those in opposition to the project are still hard at work in their desire to quash the project. Six of the County’s lake associations have banded together to make their own submission to the Joint Secretariat expressing grave concerns about the project.
While there is no doubt that the Maple, Beech & Cameron Lakes Association (MBC) has taken the lead in investigating the proposed project and standing firm against it, over the past few months many of the other lake association members have shared MBC’s concerns about this very expensive undertaking. Now, the Oxtongue Lake Ratepayers Association, Kushog Lake Property Owners Association, Livingstone Lake Association, Halls & Hawk Lakes Property Owners Association and the Otter Lake Ratepayers Association have officially leant their support to MBC by writing to Building Canada directly, before the Algonquin Highland’s submission can be processed.
The arguments that the associations make are quite telling. They maintain that the airport expansion is not the number one priority of the Municipality, given the split vote on the motion by Council to move forward with the project. They reference two separate opinion polls (one by Trent University and the other by the Councillor Carol Moffatt) that indicate an overwhelming majority of taxpayers in Algonquin Highlands do not support the airport expansion and identify other projects as having greater priority and economic benefit. Building Canada criteria require that project submissions are a municipality’s top priority.
The lake association executives suggest to Building Canada’s Joint Secretariat that the business case being presented by Algonquin Highlands is not based on fact. This is evidenced in part by the Municipality’s submission placing a great deal of emphasis on the runway being needed to provide essential services (emergency medical services, law enforcement and fixed wing fire suppression services) all of which have been disproved more than once during the course of debate over the project.
Paul MacInnes, President of MBC, said, “I can’t believe they’re still talking about fixed wing medivac. One wonders just how many times this has to be disproven.”
The municipality’s business plan emphasizes the need for a crosswind runway for safety reasons. In response to this, the associations point out that Algonquin Highlands’ own consulting engineers have suggested that the existing runway is well positioned for prevailing wind conditions and a new runway, while longer, will not necessarily be safer.
The associations submitted that the consulting engineers also made it clear to the Council that the new runway will not meet Transport Canada standards for a certified runway. Without this the airport won’t be able to attract scheduled flights and the types of planes and organizations that would be able to use the runway will always be limited.
The associations say that future traffic forecasts have no sound justification and are even wildly optimistic as are the economic benefits which Algonquin Highlands seems to anticipate. They point out that while the airport is named and positioned as a County Airport, not one of the other three municipal councils have officially expressed support for the proposed expansion. Despite a lack of formal support from the County, arguments made by Algonquin Highlands in support of the project rely heavily on County demographics.
The associations point out that even though the Algonquin Highlands Council did hold a public meeting regarding the project, questions from the audience were limited to those related to the technical aspects of the proposed runway and any efforts to question the Reeve, Councillors or CAO about the economic aspects of the plan were stifled. This too goes against the grain of Building Canada requirements that projects have the support of the community.
According to MacInnes, the municipality’s business plan in support of the project, which was pulled together in just a few weeks, needs a lot more research and sober second thought.
Even a cursory look at the application shows some serious flaws and projections that have absolutely no grounding in fact. As an example, the business plan states that the airport generated a total gross revenue of $4.1 million dollars to Ontario’s economy, but for some reason fails to say just how that was achieved.
The municipality’s executive summary suggests that without a viable general purpose airport, the region will not be able to compete with other communities to attract light clean sustainable industry. It also states that the quality of life factors for the aging demographics of the area are at a disadvantage without the airport. In addition, it suggests that the new runway will be crucial in providing increased access, security and staging services for the G-8 Economic Summit planned for 2010.
The summary makes a number of references to improved quality of life as a result of the airport expansion, and quotes various transportation studies conducted in the states. One would have to ask, with so many residents of Algonquin Highlands speaking out against the project, how their quality of life could possibly be improved by it.
Without any detailed justification, the summary also states that economic development in the area is projected to reach up to 163 person years of annual employment that will generate as much as $14.8 million dollars annually to the provincial economy.
The business plan suggests that with the development of the airport and resulting increased infrastructure and commercial activity, the municipality will be able to reduce the tax burden on the local community.
In fact, much of the rationale for the project in the application fails to be validated and actually flies in the face of arguments made time and time again to Council by detractors to the project.
The document even manages to cloud the identity of the airport as it is referred to as the Haliburton/Stanhope Municipal Airport, the Stanhope Municipal Airport, the Haliburton Highlands/Stanhope Municipal Airport and the Haliburton/Algonquin Highlands Municipal Airport. This, combined with numerous and even glaring errors, supports the associations’ argument that the business plan included in their submission was inadequate. It appears to have been very hastily prepared, even after many residents urged Council to take the time and even budget sufficient funds to have a detailed business plan completed by professionals before they proceeded further with the project.
The bottom line for the associations, who are concerned for the economic prosperity of the township, is the question whether the construction of a new runway is the best use of federal, provincial and municipal tax dollars.
MacInnes says that he has called the Joint Secretariat for Building Canada to formally request a meeting. It is his intention to go through the Algonquin Highlands submission and highlight both the inadequacies and inaccuracies in the proposal.
According to MacInnes, in order to be successful with a Building Canada application, there must be complete accord between the provincial & federal government representatives that applications are for priority projects before they proceed to higher levels for approval.
In addition to other concerns raised, appointments to the Building Canada Secretariat are political in nature which, according to MacInnes is one of the reasons it took so long to be formed. One would have to question whether the appointments will remain valid if the Conservative government falls early in the New Year and how long it could take before project reviews and approvals take place.
It will be very interesting to see what Building Canada’s response to this application is. According to MacInnes, in their first round of applications the Secretariat has already received more applications than they can afford to fund which would place each one under very careful review. Stand by to learn whether the application for a new runway can stand the scrutiny.
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ONTARIO LAKES FOR THE FUTURE PROGRAM
We’re all downstream… Ecologist’s motto
OLRA Executive Committee member Ben Teskey, owner of the Wolf Den Hostel and Nature Retreat, also holds the title of Lake Steward, and with good reason: he works tirelessly to educate all of us about the health of our cherished lake and surrounding land.
On our Ontario Lakes for the Future page, Ben offers a succinct overview of the OLF programs, details the OLRA’s involvement, and invites us to volunteer. [Read more.]
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STANHOPE AIRPORT EXPANSION
Council has voted in favor of the airport.
From the council meeting minutes, Oct. 23, 2008
3. Moved by: Don Shortreed
Seconded by: Diane J. Griffin
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Council of the Corporation of the Township of Algonquin Highlands do hereby declare the Haliburton-Stanhope Airport Development Project to be their first and highest priority for capital development and construction in 2009;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the Corporation of the Township of Algonquin Highlands hereby directs the CAO and Treasurer to apply for funding under the Build Canada Infrastructure Program, Community Initiatives Component for construction of the municipal airport project at a total cost of $3.4 million dollars.
RECORDED VOTE: NAYS YEAS
Councillor Carol Moffatt √
Councillor Diane J. Griffin √
Councillor Don Shortreed √
Deputy-Reeve Tom Gardner √
Reeve Eleanor Harrison √
CARRIED.
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HWY 60 UPDATE
A proposed change in speed limit
Excerpts from a letter recently received by Gary Schultz:
The Ministry of Transportation has completed the traffic study through the Oxtongue Lake Area. Based on our field review and evaluation of existing conditions and factors, we will be introducing a 60 km/h speed limit on Highway 60 from approximately 100 metres east of Blue Spruce Road easterly to 300 metres east of Tom Parris Trail. Our traffic office is also reviewing what signage improvements are needed.
Changing the speed limit requires an Ontario Regulation under the Highway Traffic Act. This regulatory process generally takes several months to complete. We expect to the have the reduced speed signs in place by late-winter/early-spring.
Gordan Rennie, Regional Issues Advisor, Ministry of Transportation, Northeastern Region
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WELCOME TO OUR WEBSITE
Welcome to the website for the Community of Oxtongue Lake. The purpose of our website is to be something of a CyberCommunity Centre. Here, you will find up-to-date information on current events in the community, notice of upcoming events and meetings, an archive of past issues of our newsletter (The Echoes of Oxtongue), weather reports and a variety of other helpful, pertinent, and fun topics.
Our mission is to be a relevant and helpful web presence for full-time residents, for seasonal cottagers, and for those who are just passing through town (or cyberspace). This website will grow and change in the months and years ahead, just as we do.
We are all so fortunate to live and vacation in such a beautiful place. With your feedback and participation, this website will celebrate and enhance this shared privilege that connects us all.
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Special thanks to the
Haliburton County Development Corporation
for their generous financial support of the
Oxtongue Lake Community website
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Website design by Nora Heuer
Baytides Management Inc.
Fair
Tonight: -17˚