The Rural Municipality of Good Lake will see an increase in population over the summer months, which means an increase of road repairs to accommodate.
Reeve David Popowich said most of the town’s expenses are spent on transportation and roads. With beaver dams needing to be demolished and culverts needing to be replaced or removed, and with the recent heavy rainfall in the area, the RM spends about $980,000 per year on repairs.
Popowich said their crew of six has equipment provided by the RM to do small patch jobs, while larger gravelling jobs require a contractor. Fortunately, the rural municipalities budget of $1.4 million accommodates the major fixes.
About $900,000 in income comes from taxes in the RM of Good Lake. Popowich explained that the mill rate for residential resort properties, which are usually occupied for summer months, is 8.3 mills, while the rural municipality in general has a tax rate of 10 mills. The council tries to balance taxes so that they are fair to the population, which includes cottage owners, farmers, and golf course owners.
An extra $300,000 in income comes from grants to the rural municipality.
Aside from the road repairs and the general “odds and ends” needed to run the rural municipality, Popowich said a major expense for the 2016 year was shutting down two landfills in the area and constructing a transfer site. The site will open in August 15, and will feature a portable container which will be transported to Yorkton.
Popowich said the transport site is more cost-efficient, as a new landfill would cost $1.5 million. Transporting waste to Yorkton will only cost the rural municipality how many containers they ship.
“Good Lake is a little different from most RMs,” explained Popowich. The area includes about 1,400 cottages which are only occupied for the summer months. That difference, however, is what Popowich finds most appealing about his work.
There is a wide range of people in the area, but despite all the different personalities, Popowich said he has not had any major difficulties with anyone in the 49 years he has worked for the RM. Most of the population is happy to speak with him.
“It’s just that they come to you with problems, but we’re happy to deal with those problems.”
The RM of Good Lake is run by Reeve Popowich, councillors Harvey Wegner, John Neufeld, Robert Steffenson, Ken Demchuk, David Moroz, and Julius Dziaduck, and Joan Popoff, the administrator.
