A preliminary draft trail management agreement presented to Orangeville Council last week sought to have the Town pay 40 per cent of the maintenance costs for the Vicki Barron Trail at the Island Lake Conservation Area.

The total estimate for the maintenance is $40,000. As proposed, Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) would pay 20 per cent and Mono would pay 40 per cent.

Mono Council stated it was fine with a 50-50 split between the two towns. However, Orangeville Council thought the cost was a little high and requested a meeting among the three parties.

The hesitation from Orangeville was due to the number of hours estimated to maintain the trails and because Orangeville had donated money to build the trail.

Councillor Rob Strang stated the 156-hour estimate "sounds like a lot of checking for 2 kilometres of trail. It sounds massively over budget."

Bob Shirley, vice chair of the CVC, said the amount of checking is due to potential liabilities for the CVC.

Dave Dyce, also from CVC, said the amount of checking depends on each trail and varies from year to year.

Mayor Drew Brown said this was the start of negotiations and said he had always taken the position of not wanting to invest heavily as he thought residents would have to pay, which doesn't appear to be the case now.

Councillor Strang added he's all for trails and the threat from a good program can come from with in, such as not being able to maintain the trails in a cost effective way.

"I want to see a lot of trails here," he said.

Mr. Shirley noted the cost estimate will be reviewed annually and therefore a meeting may be required every year.

A meeting date has not yet been scheduled.