By Emily Stonehouse
A meeting with some hellos and some goodbyes. Haliburton County Development Corporation’s (HCDC) annual general meeting was held on Oct. 4 at the still shiny Link building off County Road 21.
Following a land acknowledgement, Warden Liz Danielsen kicked off the meeting, bringing greetings from county council members. “What you have done for our economy,” said Danielsen, referencing the hard work of staff and board members of HCDC, “is something that should definitely be applauded.”
To dive right into numbers, Tim Degeer of Dawson Gray provided news of a clean audit, and once again gave credit to Patti Tallman, the executive director of HCDC, and the team of staff who keep the numbers running smoothly.
Tallman, who was present via zoom due to COVID-19 exposure, presented on this past year’s statistics, with 121 businesses assisted and in-depth counselling services offered, 90 referrals, and 309 jobs created/maintained through HCDC support. “Collaboration is key,” said Tallman. “I’d like to acknowledge the hard work of the staff. I’m really blessed to have the best team.”
Sara Joanu, the loans officer, followed Tallman for a progress report. She noted that over the past year, HCDC received 73 loan applications, where 53 were approved, 13 were withdrawn, and seven were declined.
Noting that the numbers are up to a year end of March 31, 2024, Joanu shared that the total dollars dispersed within the community were $6,559,589 at an average interest rate of 8.2 per cent, and a total value of investment portfolio landing at $22,536,548. “I am confident in our ability to make a positive difference in Haliburton County,” she said.
The loans were split up by sector for those to see, with the service sector comprising the largest piece of the pie at 49.4 per cent. These services include restaurants, landscaping, hair salons, accounting, and auto repair.
Other loan sectors from HCDC include construction, making up 12.6 per cent of their portfolio, tourism at 13.1 per cent, manufacturing at 8.4 per cent, retail at 8.1 per cent, forestry at 5.8 per cent, and not for profits holding 2.6 per cent of the portfolio.
Out of the 73 loans from the past fiscal year, 44.1 per cent went into maintenance, 29.4 per cent into expansion, and 26.5 into start up costs.
The interest from the loans given out into the community is used to directly fund community economic development (CED) initiatives from HCDC, and Elisha Barlowe, the programs and operations coordinator for HCDC, dove into the many CED programs HCDC oversaw this past year.
With $233,000 funds leveraged, the CED department of HCDC developed six strategic plans, involved 29 community partners, and recruited 79 volunteers.
Many have heard of the local initiatives program, or LIP, which, based on interest levels from community loans, had an impact of $174,973 this past year. This equated to 25 projects, 30 partners, $70,000 dispersed, $104,973 in leveraged funds, and $104,009 in-kind contributions.
While the numbers were delivered and the team applauded for another successful year, it was time to say goodbye to one of HCDC’s longest serving directors.
Barb Bolin joined the corporation in 1995 as a member of the CED committee. “Her passion for community economic development has played a vital role in many of our achievements in the area,” said Cory Abbs, the loan administrator for HCDC. Bolin has been the chair for both the CED committee, as well as the investment committee at different times, and worked tirelessly to provide funding and relief for countless local businesses. “Barb’s unwavering dedication to both our community and the corporation will be remembered for years to come,” said Abbs.
Bolin’s role will be filled by Nancy Wright-Laking, which was approved by the board of directors at the meeting.
The AGM was closed off by Warden Liz Danielsen, who used her closing remarks as an opportunity to shed some light on recent developments from county council; namely, the recently adopted municipal accommodation tax (MAT). This tax is associated with short term rentals, and is split equally between the county and the lower tiers. The county uses their percentage for any upcoming tourism initiative, and each municipality can use their allocation as they see fit. “The bylaws have all been passed and are in place,” said Danielsen.
The warden was asked whether the taxes will impact the overall tourism budget, to which she replied “that’s not the plan,” noting she sees the MAT as an opportunity to improve county tourism initiatives overall.
Considering the tax is a newly proposed regulation, Danielsen could not speak to the exact amount that would be received year over year.
Danielsen also used her time at the podium to skim the surface of the mighty conversation that is amalgamation, or, as Danielsen phrased it, “the A-word”.
Amalgamation has been a hot topic for countless years; with a teetering back and forth between those for and against the amalgamation of upper and lower tier government models. In an attempt to gain some clarity, county council recently completed a service delivery review; a glimpse into which services lie where, and who holds the onus.
Danielsen reported that the review, which is available online for public viewing, was quite simply, too much. “We aren’t all on the same page,” she said. “It’s overwhelming.”
She believes that streamlining these services, for now, is too big a task to take on. “Right now, there are lakes that have different rules from one end to the other,” she said. “We need to make sure everyone in the county knows the rules, and I think we can do that without the ‘A-word’.”
That being said, Danielsen confirmed that she is committed to continuing to have the conversations around amalgamation. “I will encourage open discussions and a willingness to all move in the same direction,” she said.
