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Message from the Reeve – Legal Fees paid by Tay Valley Township

There have been recent public allegations that Tay Valley Township pays an exorbitant amount of money for legal fees.

The following table identifies the total amount of legal fees paid from 2018 to 2025 for all Township matters, not just litigation.

The table also identifies other expenses related to litigation by or against the Township.

Figures have been rounded to the nearest dollar.

      Year                       Legal Fees                   Litigation-Related Expenses

• 2018                     $137,022                      $78,587
• 2019                     $112,257                      $3,679
• 2020                     $101,218                      $5,048
• 2021                     $75,376                        $9,962
• 2022                     $55,610                        $0
• 2023                     $120,390                      $3,276
• 2024                     $229,324                      $14,438
• 2025                     $124,844                      $11,884

Total legal fees may relate to a wide range of Township activity including animal control, building and planning, by-law enforcement, cemeteries, corporate administration, election administration, Township governance, grants, human resources, Integrity Commissioner services, municipal drains, matters before the Ontario Land Tribunal, public works, tax sales, waste management services, and more.

Some legal fees are reimbursed to the Township by applicants, for example for planning, road closings, road naming applications and so on.

The Township cannot provide a breakdown of the fees paid for each category named above, as this would result in the disclosure of solicitor-client privileged information.

Please also note that the Township does not have an in-house solicitor.

Message from the Reeve - Blueberry Creek Forest School Legal Fees

n recent weeks and months there have been unfounded claims that Tay Valley Township has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees associated with the Township's regulatory role concerning the Blueberry Creek Forest School, located at 17638 Highway 7, near Perth. The Township has been involved with this property since 2017 regarding a number of complex and challenging zoning, building code, and other issues - including that the Forest School is located within a designated floodplain.

The fact is the Township has expensed $60,559.88 in legal fees for all matters related to the Forest School, of which insurance covered $28,590.59. The Township also recently paid $25,000 to the property owner, as ordered by the court when the Township withdrew its application to the court regarding the Airbnb on the property. (Had the Township not withdrawn, many other Airbnb's in the Township would have become non-compliant with the Township's Zoning By-Law, meaning they would have become illegal.)

Thus, the total cost, to date, to payers of property tax in Tay Valley for all matters related to the Forest School is $56,969.29 ($60,559.88 in legal fees + $25,000 court order - $28,590.59 covered by insurance). This amounts to approximately $5,200 per year since 2018 when legal fees were first paid, or 0.0005 of the Township's 2026 budget of $10.1 million in expenditures.