MRC council turns down request to pause legal proceedings against Alleyn-et-Cawood
MRC council turns down request to pause legal proceedings against Alleyn-et-Cawood
At the MRC Pontiac council of mayors meeting on March 19, council voted down a resolution requesting a pause in the MRC’s legal proceedings against the Municipality of Alleyn-et-Cawood for their unpaid 2024 shares.
Shares are the fees that municipalities are charged by the MRC for various services, and Alleyn-et-Cawood’s surged by more than 150% between 2023 and 2024, from $112,539 to $289,148. The sale of a number of lots for amounts well over their assessed value in the small rural municipality caused a major increase to municipal property assessments, which spurred the spike.
Representatives of the municipality have previously stated that they dispute the amount that they were charged, and were prepared to take the case to court. The MRC initiated legal proceedings to recover the total amount, plus interest and costs at their January meeting.
The latest resolution, presented by Alleyn-et-Cawood pro-Mayor Sidney Squitti, requested that the MRC pause their legal proceedings until the municipality gets a response back from the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MAMH). The municipality has requested that the MAMH compensate them for the $138,490 that they believe they’ve been over-charged.
During a discussion before the vote, Squitti said that the municipality had collected the full amount from their taxpayers, and their lawyer advised to put it in a trust instead of paying the portion they believe they owe. Litchfield Mayor Colleen Larivière questioned why they would pause the proceedings at this point when they have no indication if or when the MAMH might compensate the amount.
Mansfield-et-Pontefract Mayor Sandra Armstrong pointed out that Squitti herself had stated at the December meeting that Alleyn-et-Cawood’s council and residents were in support of fighting the charges in court.
The resolution was voted down 13-3, with the representatives of Thorne, Otter Lake and Alleyn-et-Cawood opposed. There were no representatives of the municipalities of Fort-Coulonge and Bryson present.
Speaking after the meeting, Warden Jane Toller explained why council decided not to cover the difference with money from the surplus, as had been suggested by Squitti.
The full audio of the discussion of the resolution is available here:
