With a Fraser Institute study showing amalgamation is not the cost-saver it was meant to be, some Chatham-Kent politicians are still not satisfied with the single-tier system implemented in 1998.
The outlying Kent County communities were originally tasked with figuring out a tiered municipal system. When they failed to do so, the province intervened and amalgamated Chatham and the rest of the county.
Ward 6 Councillor Doug Sulman says Chatham has been hit the hardest by amalgamation, having inherited a host of problems from outlying communities. "The outlying areas didn't prepare their bridges and roads. The majority of taxpayers, of course, are living in urban areas. They're now paying for what wasn't done in the rural areas."
Ward 1 Councillor and former Tilbury Mayor Bryon Fluker agrees, saying those outlying communities have benefitted from Chatham's larger tax revenue. "It's a lot different than a city that has four houses on an acre of land, while we have farmland."
The study found amalgamation efforts in Haldimand, Norfolk and Kawartha Lakes Counties still saw increases in property taxes and municipal debt.
