The Blue Mountains council enacted a bylaw to collect the Business Improvement Levy from members in the Thornbury area.

Ruth Prince, manager of revenue for the town, told council that the BIA had approved its 2009 budget at the annual general meeting in April and was just waiting for council to pass the bylaw so the levies could be collected.

The town will collect $750.64 from each unit in the BIA membership area on behalf of the BIA. The levy will be added to the property tax bill.

Councillor John McGee brought up the recent talk of disbanding the BIA via petition, as was the intention of Gord Price, owner of the Dam Pub, earlier this month. McGee asked the clerk, Stephen Keast, what happened after the first petition was shown not to meet the standards set in the Municipal Act.

Keast said a second petition was submitted with one signature and other names typed on the page. He and staff are looking into the petition, and added that the process is lengthy.

Deputy Mayor Duncan McKinlay asked what fees would be collected if the BIA was disbanded.

Director of finance, Robert Cummings said fees would be collected according to the decision of council, since the BIA still carried a past debt.

McGee was opposed to enacting the bylaw saying that he didn't want to enact a bylaw on the same day that council received the report about the fees in order to give some time for public comment.

No one else opposed and the bylaw was enacted.

Mayor Ellen Anderson and Councillor Cameron Kennedy were absent from the meeting, and McKinlay did not vote as he was chairing the meeting.