Fort Simpson (Apr 22/05) - It's an accurate snapshot, but the village versus hamlet study is locked in time.

A meeting between village council and Michael McLeod, minister of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA), in Fort Simpson last week identified the need for a paragraph to be inserted in the final draft of the report. That paragraph will notify readers to check with MACA or the village for updates on funding contributions as some extra dollars have been granted to municipalities since the study was done.

Mayor Raymond Michaud said the MACA officials were initially in favour of ceasing the study because it was outdated. He and the village councillors objected.

"It's as factual as you can get when it was completed," the mayor said of the study following the April 13 meeting with MACA.

According to Michaud, the recently announced $90,000 in extra funding from MACA to the village was "greatly appreciated, but it's not the $300,000 they cut us when I started as mayor."

He reiterated that the existing funding formula does not work for a village.

"Like I told the minister, my concern is if we're a hamlet, yeah, we'll make less money, but remaining a village is just a hardship that taxpayers have to take on," he said, adding that he wants to avoid raising taxes and water rates.

The municipality will hold a public meeting, possibly in the fall, followed by a plebiscite to decide whether to revert to hamlet status, Michaud said. It would take at least two years for a change in status to take effect, he noted.

McLeod couldn't be reached for comment earlier this week. In a press release, he stated, "We had a productive meeting and agreed to continue open discussions about the best options for the village, and how MACA can support them in moving forward."

Andrew Gaule, who was contracted to compose the village versus hamlet report through North of 60 Training and Consulting, said that other than producing a CD for a public presentation and possibly appearing as a resource person, his role in this affair has essentially concluded.

He declined to offer his personal opinion on which way he would advise the village to go. He doesn't want to influence how people read the study, he explained.

"I tried to keep the report as impartial, basically as factual as I could," Gaule said.