SOUTH HURON COUNCIL BRIEFS

Municipality of South Huron logo.

By John Miner

Council remuneration reported

The total bill for South Huron councillor pay and expenses in 2025 came to $213,166, up from $208,057 in 2024.

The 2025 breakdown reported at the March 16 meeting was:

- Mayor George Finch $41,045

- Deputy Mayor Jim Dietrich $32,610

- Wendy McLeod-Haggitt $29,670

- Ted Oke $29,314

- Marissa Vaughan $28,747

- Milt Dietrich $27,313

- Aaron Neeb $24,464

The amounts are for the remuneration and expenses paid by South Huron and don’t include pay and expenses by the County of Huron.

Development charges meeting set

A special council meeting has been called for April 27 at 4 p.m. to discuss the proposal to triple development charges in the municipality.

A report prepared by consultants Watson and Associates said the charges should be increased from $6,206 to $18,641 for a single-detached house.

Developers have said the increase could stifle the economy and put homes out of reach of new buyers.

Kirkton landfill report

Monitoring of the closed Kirkton landfill in 2025 found a number of chemical contaminants in the groundwater that exceeded Ontario standards.

The report by Wilson Associates Consulting Hydrogeologists said there are no users within the leachate plume and no off-site users of groundwater could be conceivably impacted by the landfill.

The Kirkton landfill was closed in September 2006. There is currently no activity taking place at the site other than groundwater monitoring and perpetual care maintenance.

Taxicab regulation dropped

South Huron council has voted to get out of the business of regulating taxicabs.

A staff report recommended council repeal its taxicab bylaw, saying that the regulation of taxicabs and other vehicles-for-hire is best managed at a regional level as companies often operate across multiple jurisdictions.

Other ride-sharing platforms such as Uber or Lyft are currently not regulated by the municipality and this could be seen as treating local taxi companies unfairly as they have to adhere to a bylaw while ride-sharing operators do not, the report said.