Every dollar the municipality spends today is a bet that planning now saves money later. In Lanark Highlands, the bets never pay off — plans get commissioned and shelved, budgets land months behind schedule, and reserve numbers get corrected after the fact rather than reported right the first time. Here’s the record, and what I’d do to change it.

The Problem:

The province has required an Asset Management Plan (AMP) for eight years; the township still doesn’t have one, despite paying for at least three separate consultants’ reports — close to $100,000 spent with nothing ever acted on. A long-term financial plan exists on paper but is ten years out of date (PDF). Budgets have routinely appeared in June or later of the budget year, while neighbouring townships typically have theirs set by November of the previous year. Multiple financial updates have required corrections to reserve balances in the millions of dollars.

My Position:

A council that can’t plan or execute reliably can’t be trusted with taxpayer money — and we’ve seen firsthand what happens when there’s no vision to go with fiscal caution.

The Kitten Mill resolution is one clear example: an externally funded, professionally assessed, self-sustaining reuse plan was on the table, and council chose an expensive demolition instead, and then footed the bill.

That’s not caution. That’s a failure of stewardship.

What I’ll Push For:

• Finish, adopt, and actually use the Asset Management Plan the township has already paid for three times over.
• Adopt a five-year financial plan, updated annually, tied to a real economic development plan with public metrics and milestones.
• Get budgets passed on schedule – before the fiscal year starts, in line with neighbouring townships – with audits published by the legislated May 31 deadline.
• Require a long-term cost calculation (not just sticker price) for major purchasing decisions.
• Publicly track every council initiative and consultant report the township pays for, so none vanish the way three AMP reports did.