Members of The Blue Mountains council have questioned the amount of money their town has been asked to contribute to a project to build a new home for the Georgian Triangle Humane Society.
Representatives from the humane society made a presentation at council’s meeting on Nov. 21. Sonja Reichel and Mel Pockaj spoke to council about the society’s strong need to build a new facility.
“We’re facing an urgent challenge in our sector,” said Pockaj.
The humane society has seen a significant jump in the use of its services over the past number of years. Pockaj said they are now sheltering close 4,000 animals annually in a building designed to host 500 animals.
The humane society is planning to build a new 19,000-square-foot facility on land it owns in Collingwood and is currently raising money for the $16 million project.
“There is hope,” she said.
Local municipalities served by the humane society are being asked to contribute funding to the project over the next decade. The society requested The Blue Mountains consider donating $27,000 a year for the next 10 years for a total of $270,000.
The total requests that have been or will be made to other municipalities include:
- Wasaga Beach - $300,000
- Clearview - $225,000
- Collingwood - $315,000
- Meaford - $187,500
- Grey Highlands - $195,000
The humane society will request a total of $1.5 million from local governments or 9.3 per cent of the total build costs.
Members of council praised the humane society and the work they do in the community, but questioned how the town’s proposed contribution was calculated.
“The work you guys do is second to none, but we have to be fiscally responsible to our ratepayers,” said Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon.
The humane society used a combination of population and assessment to calculate its proposed municipal contributions to the project.
Coun. Gail Ardiel pointed out that Wasaga Beach with 26 per cent of the population was asked to contribute $30,000 annually, while The Blue Mountains with 10 per cent of the population was asked to give $27,000 per year.
“There seems to be some mismatch,” said Ardiel. “I’d like to see this come way down.”
Council voted to receive the presentation from the humane society and requested a full staff report about the funding request.
