The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Within the borders of Flin Flon, city council has amassed popular support for its plan to seek new revenue, in one form or another, from outlying cottage subdivisions. But it's another story among the several hundred cottagers who suddenly face the prospect of a new tax or fee of an undetermined amount. 'I think it's just, 'Leave us alone,'' says John Munson when asked to sum up the sentiment of cottagers. Munson, a retired engineer who lives year-round at Bakers Narrows, is upset by city council's talk of potentially annexing cottage areas. 'I chose to retire, to live out here, and I could have chose to retire anywhere,' Munson says. 'I didn't move out here to get away from paying taxes. I paid taxes for 30 years in town. And that's my feeling, that this is my retirement home. I don't see why they're trying to now tax the hell out of me, to be honest.' To be clear, council is not trying to tax cottagers at this time, though that remains a very real possibility. Council has instead asked them to devise their own plan to 'provide income to the City of Flin Flon to compensate for use of services,' as the city stated in a Reminder ad last week. In order for that to happen, cottage associations would have to organize into legal entities capable of charging a 'Flin Flon fee' to their members. It's not clear how likely of a prospect this is. Also unclear is the likelihood of annexation, council's back-up plan should cottagers fail to present a new voluntary fee structure that is acceptable to City Hall. If need be, council has vowed to pursue annexation, which could place up to 400 cottages between Cranberry Portage and Flin Flon within the taxation boundaries of the latter community. But the provincial government, not council, would have the final say on any takeover of land _ and vocal protests by cottagers would be virtually guaranteed. For Sue Lindsay, another year-round Bakers Narrows resident, the city's position is unfair. 'I'm thinking that we're talking about two entirely different areas (cottage subdivisions and Flin Flon),' says Lindsay, a retired teacher. 'They (the city) haven't really ever approached us as far as saying, 'This is what we would provide for you.' So if they're not going to give us anything, I'm really wondering how they can even think of asking for something from us.' Rather than annexation, Lindsay believes council should lobby to have the yearly fees cottagers already pay to the province go into city coffers instead. See 'We...' on pg. 3 Continued from pg. 1 Over at Schist Lake, Farley Hemmings also urges council to go after the yearly fees cottagers render to the province. 'We already pay taxes. We can't help that it's not to Flin Flon. That's just the way it is here,' says Hemmings. Hemmings opposes a voluntary fee to the city because he believes it would rise exponentially over time. 'I know how that would work,' says Hemmings, a retired former Albertan. 'If we turned around and said, 'Okay, we'll pay you x amount of dollars,' let's just (say) $200, $250, I know in two years' time, the City of Flin Flon is going to say, 'Okay, now you owe us $400.' It's just going to be their given right to up the ante. That's how taxes work.' No set amount When it comes to the proposed voluntary fee, council has not mentioned a specific dollar figure, leaving that to cottage owners to formulate. 'I'm giving people a chance to come up with their own proposals, realistic proposals, before we have to take any action,' says Mayor George Fontaine. Mayor Fontaine is well aware of the opposition council faces from cottagers, but he shows no signs of backing down. 'We're made to be the ogres in some conversations and it's sad that that's the case, but people can think of it in the terms they want,' the mayor says. 'We're looking for fairness on our side.' Mayor Fontaine relays the story of a man he once saw at the Aqua Centre, a non-resident who told him how much he enjoys being able to swim for only the modest fee charged at the pool. 'He says, 'I can't get this even when I'm down in the city.' He says, 'It's way more money than this,'' says the mayor. 'My response was, 'You're welcome.' He said, 'What?' I said, 'Well, I'm paying the difference.'' Of course not all cottagers are upset by the thought of new fees or even outright annexation. 'I got no problem unless it's going to cost me an arm and a leg,' says Rick Jackson, who lives at Schist Lake. Jackson, a Hudbay retiree, does not believe cottagers should have to dole out dollars to both the province and the city _ just one fee, please. However, even if he had to pay an additional charge to the city on top of his provincial fee, Jackson would not necessarily be opposed; it would just depend on the amount. 'A monetary sum, yeah, I got no problem there because realistically we probably should be paying something,' says Jackson, who pays just under $1,000 a year to the province for his cottage. 'I mean, we do use the town supplies and everything _ well, except for water and garbage, we don't have any of that out here, or fire protection.' Does not wash Yet the argument that cottagers use municipal services and thus owe City Hall money does not wash with all of the so-called lake people. 'What about the people that are living in Creighton, in Denare?' Munson, the retired engineer, asks rhetorically. 'They're not paying for city services and yet they're using some of them.' Lindsay, the retired teacher, holds a similar sentiment. 'There are a lot of people coming into Flin Flon,' says Lindsay. 'Sure (cottagers) are probably the most frequent users, but I would say that traffic has increased quite a bit since they opened up the big box stores. So we're not the only ones (visiting Flin Flon regularly), and how can you monitor who goes in more often?' Even when cottagers do visit Flin Flon, are they all utilizing city services? No, according to Hemmings, the former Albertan. 'What services do I use? I go to the Co-op. I go do my shopping (in Flin Flon). That's about it,' Hemmings says. Mark Watling, a retired Hudbay engineer at Big Island, says he is not expected to pay taxes to Winnipeg or Prince Albert if he shops in those cities. 'The same thing in Flin Flon. When I shop in stores in Flin Flon, that helps the tax base for Flin Flon,' says Watling, adding that Flin Flon would have far fewer businesses if only locals shopped there. What should not be overlooked, in Munson's view, are the extra costs and responsibilities cottagers bear compared to Flin Flonners. Munson's house insurance, for example, is nearly double what he says he would pay in Flin Flon because of his distance from fire protection. And Munson does not see why he should help fund Flin Flon's costly new water treatment plant when he is responsible for his own water treatment system. 'I have my own well, my own disinfection system, pressure system, filters that I installed at my own expense to get my own potable water,' says Munson. 'I'm responsible. I can't just phone the city up and say, 'Oh, I've got a water leak, can you come down and fix it?' No, I've got to fix it.' Like other cottagers, Munson wants the city to go after the fees already being paid to the province, which for him total $929 a year. He would even be okay with upping that fee, to a point. User fees And like other cottagers interviewed for this article, Munson has no problem with non-resident user fees for cottagers who use city facilities. But Munson fears that outright annexation _ and taxing cottages at the same rate as if they were in Flin Flon _ would price some people out of their homes. See 'Fear...' on pg. 11 Continued from pg. 3 'I know there are people out here that if the taxes go to the rate they're saying, they can't afford to stay here,' Munson says. 'So now you're going to lose those people.' That's a concern shared by Watling of Big Island. 'A lot of people are retired out here,' Watling says. 'They're on a fixed income. They've used a lot of their life savings to move to the lake to retire. There are many people who have said they just can't afford to (live here) if the city proceeds with what they're doing.' Watling says fees already paid by cottagers help fund services in Flin Flon such as health care and highways. And since cottagers live outside the community, he says they purchase more gas, translating into higher gas-tax transfers for City Hall. Not enough Still, from city council's point of view, those transfers are not nearly enough to make up for rising expenses and a dwindling tax base. The number of taxpayers in Flin Flon has dropped drastically in recent decades, down nearly 700 over the last decade alone. Hudbay downsizing has played a role, but so too has the flow of residents out to the lake. Thus the cost of municipal services falls on fewer and fewer shoulders as expensive new projects, such as the water treatment plant, are mandated by higher levels of government. Unless new dollars are found somewhere, council could be forced into unpopular budget cuts that impact the way of life to which Flin Flonners are accustomed. That's something of which Jackson, the Hudbay retiree from Schist Lake, is well aware. 'Everything is there if I want to use it,' says Jackson. 'Like, I don't use the pool, I don't use 'this,' I don't use 'that,' but it's there if I want to use it. And if somebody doesn't pay for it, well, there's going to be nothing there.' Hemmings is not so receptive to that line of thinking. 'I think the City of Flin Flon is mismanaging a lot of their money. That's part of it, too,' says Hemmings. Watling feels that city councils throughout the years should have kept a tighter lid on spending as the population plunged. 'I look around town and I see spending,' Watling says. For her part, Lindsay would prefer council examine revenue-bolstering alternatives to annexation that have worked elsewhere. 'I'm sure there are (other) ways of going about meeting their financial obligations,' Lindsay says. 'There are probably other communities that were in similar situations, and what happened? How did they go about it?' When it comes to potential annexation, council has looked at all cottage subdivisions between Flin Flon and Cranberry Portage. Rapid growth Over the past two decades, those areas have experienced a rapid growth in year-round homes, partly because of the province's continual opening of new cottage lots. Precise population figures are difficult to ascertain because of how the census is conducted, but city data indicates there are 400 properties involved. Most of them appear to be year-round homes, but others are summer residences enjoyed by people who also own property in Flin Flon. If the city were to annex cottage areas, all cottage owners would stand to pay property taxes based on market value. However, under the voluntary fee sought by city council, distinctions could conceivably be made between the amounts paid by year-round cottagers and seasonal cottagers. Mayor Fontaine says it will be up to the cottagers as a whole to determine such distinctions. The mayor says he 'was never really after those people' who also own homes in Flin Flon 'because they're paying in our community enough.' But overall, Mayor Fontaine says the 'system as it is right now is unsustainable' and cottagers are being asked to 'please take part' in a solution. Lengthy process Annexing cottage areas would involve a lengthy process, with the provincial minister of local government _ currently southern Manitoba MLA Ron Lemieux _ having the final say. The city would have no legal requirement to provide newly annexed areas with services, though residents like Munson would certainly expect some bang for their buck. 'I don't think that they (the city) have really thought this thing out,' Munson says. 'If you're going to start charging me taxes at the same rate as in town, well my street better be plowed the day after the snow storm, not a week later.' Even though no fees or annexations have been finalized, Munson worries that council's proposals are already damaging cottage values. 'If I go to sell my place right now with all this controversy going on, my value is going to be knocked down drastically until it's settled,' Munson says. 'Nobody's going to buy something until they know exactly what the heck's going on.'
