It has been said that in life, the only certain things are death and taxes.

In Muskoka, a better phrase might be ‘the only thing certain is being taxed to death.’

With an estimated $106-million debt load, the district is searching out new ways to squeeze residents’ pocketbooks and nothing, from a new debt reserve fund to a potential new rural levy, is off limits.

But as finance staff cook up new ways to hold the bill collectors at bay, homeowners should ask themselves this important question: how did the district get into this mess in the first place?

Councillors are quick to point the finger at the province, and rightly so. After Walkerton, the Ontario government tied a heavy burden of rules to municipalities’ backs in the belief that the regulations would stop a tainted water incident from ever being repeated.

But the provincial government is not solely to blame for our financial woes.

Many longer-serving district councillors will recall approving tens of millions of dollars in debentures for numerous water and sewer projects that, in hindsight, are absolutely unsustainable.

One only has to look to Baysville to see the evidence. With just 81 homes using municipal services from the community’s $22-million water and sewer plants, it’s not hard to figure out why the district is eyeing rural homeowners for help.

We have to ask: why were some of these plants ever built in the first place? Who did the math?

While it is true that costs for these facilities rose over time due to new regulatory demands, it remains unclear how anyone could justify building a $22-million, user-funded water or sewer plant for so few homes.

We are not suggesting that municipal treatment plants are not important for the environment. They protect the health of our lakes and rivers, the most important asset we have in Muskoka.

But we need an explanation for what, exactly, justifies the construction of this infrastructure.

Water and sewer costs are rising across Ontario, but they are nowhere near the levels that Muskoka residents are experiencing. We cannot blame this problem on the province or on our expansive geography. Many other northern communities face the same constraints, but have managed to keep their rates well below ours.

Indeed, there’s plenty of blame to go around for this problem, and councillors should all take a heaping helping.

JL