On August 13, North Frontenac council approved a second 40 per cent tax write-off on a mine site the township doesn't own, and paid its share out of reserve. The land has never been tested, and council has ordered it up for sale a third time. Whoever you elect on October 26 inherits it.
The township's reports call it the Robertsville Mine. By the treasurer's count, it's 53 acres on Road 509, zoned for mining. Nobody has shown that this land is contaminated. Its taxes have gone unpaid since 2009, and when it went to tax sale in May of last year, it drew no bids.
That June, Treasurer Kelly Watkins recommended a write-off, citing interest that never turned into a bid. Council put it off. That August, staff came back with two costed options. One was a 40 per cent discount. The other was a Phase One environmental study for about $5,200.
The study would have produced a history of that ground: what was done on it, by whom, and whether anything got left behind. In the report's words, "This study can be completed without the consent of the owner." Council chose the discount, on a motion by John Inglis, then deputy mayor.
So what did the discount buy that the study wouldn't have? A lower price. Ten months later, this June, the land failed to sell again.
In this year's report, testing wasn't among the treasurer's options. Her report advised against taking the land: "It is not recommended to vest this property based on previous consideration and decision by Council." Council followed that advice. Between the two decisions, no staff report shows that a single new fact about the land was gathered.
The same report said a cost-benefit analysis should be done to see whether another sale would do any better. None came with it. It also spelled out who a write-off helps. Without the township taking the land, "the 'delinquent' owner could pay the lower cancellation price and have the tax arrears certificate cancelled."
Council voted that price down twice, and the owner paid for neither cut. The township's own share, about $140,000, came out of its contingency reserve.
One resident asked for the test. Kelly Willis brought a delegation to council's July 9 meeting, two weeks after the June sale failed. Her printed request was that council "move forward with the Environmental Testing" to protect the local aquifer. Council received it for information and did nothing else with it. Five weeks later, it took the second discount.
Nothing in the law forced this onto the August agenda. The treasurer's report says the township has two years from a failed sale to act, and that deadline falls well after the new council takes office. The council that voted was two and a half months from an election.
The minutes show this write-off carried with no recorded vote.
The township advertised both earlier sales in the Ontario Gazette. We read the tax-sale notices in every weekly issue from June 20 to September 19, and this land isn't in any of them. The discount council paid for hasn't been put in front of a single buyer.
A tax sale takes weeks of notice before tenders close. On that timetable, the third sale will likely land in front of the council you elect.
Kelly Willis is one of three certified candidates for mayor in the October 26 election.