A request by a Tiny Township resident toward the reason their property tax increased and how collected septage factored in was relayed through MidlandToday to the municipalities of Tiny and Midland recently.
Questions posed to Tiny Township received a response, as published in the January 4 article, ‘Upcoming Tiny budget approval to address resident's concerns over septage, property taxes’.
One update from that Tiny meeting was that the budget was given tentative approval with some amendments by the committee of the whole, but is expected to be addressed and ratified formally at the next regular meeting of council.
From Midland, Mayor Bill Gordon offered words to the Tiny Township resident but which focused on the perspective from his domain.
“Midland is not in the decision-making sphere when it comes to taxation in Tiny Township,” replied Gordon. “Midland has always and will continue to offer help or access to our services to our North Simcoe neighbours, while being fiscally responsible to Midland's ratepayers.”
A report from 2023 cited Tiny as being the largest contributor of nearly 60 percent septage haulage to the Midland wastewater treatment centre (WWTC). Facing severance from Midland’s facility, the two municipalities provided a joint-delegation at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference last year for an infrastructure grant.
Midland received over $30 million last year through a Housing Enabling Water System Fund (HEWSF), intended for upgrades to the town’s drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, to replace aged items and prepare for future growth.
Responses regarding the Midland wastewater treatment centre were provided by environmental services director André Pepin, who said that “some portion of the WWTC’s inlet works upgrade has been considered in the HEWSF funding award”, but for additional capital for larger facilities at the treatment plant, “any external septage receiving and disposal infrastructure works are not included in this funding award.”
Pepin added that announcements for the HEWSF II program would be expected in the first quarter of 2025, which could include the joint request by Midland and Tiny.
A public information session on January 21 at the North Simcoe Sports and Recreation Centre, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., will provide information on the east pressure zone project as part of the water and wastewater servicing infrastructure project. Updates for the project will be added to the town’s website once available.
Following an article which explored disposal of cruise ship waste, sewage and/or grey water within Georgian Bay, a request for information was also asked by MidlandToday about WWTC expansion for receiving external cruise ship waste. As of 2023, no ports within Georgian Bay were designed for handling waste disposal from the luxury vessels.
Pepin stated that the town’s HEWSF grant would only be used as intended. “At this time (servicing or capacity of) cruise ship disposal has not been considered in any tangible form,” with no further thoughts toward estimated costs of such an upgrade.
However, if Midland were to become the only port for cruise ship disposal on Georgian Bay, Pepin speculated that “positive things for tourism in Midland and the surrounding area can be assumed.”
