Eastern Charlotte is looking to be reclassified as a town.
During amalgamation, a transition facilitator chose to classify Eastern Charlotte as a rural community. Chief Administrative Officer Jason Gaudet said during a meeting in January 2023, that no one from the municipalities administration was part of that decision.
“Furthermore, there are questions and serious concerns on how being a rural community will impact the future recalculation of the unconditional grant from province,” he said during the January 2023 meeting of the council.
At the time, he explained funding depends on what your municipality is categorized as.
Only one other area, he explained at the time, had chosen to become a rural community – which was Nackawic.
Gaudet explained it would save the municipality money, effectively not having to pay the province roughly $141,000 to the Minister of Local Government for services rendered.
St. George was previously considered a town and Blacks Harbour was a village, so Eastern Charlotte was already providing some municipal services to those areas.
The council voted, resulting in a tiebreak in January 2023, with Mayor John Craig breaking the tie with a vote in favour of the reclassification.
But it came back to the council in April.
The municipality is preparing the package to be sent to the province. Questions were raised about how this could impact both the municipality and the taxpayers.
The province also recently committed to increasing the funding to municipalities under fiscal reform, but details were limited.
Coun. Mike Thompson asked whether that funding would mean the rural community wouldn’t need to be reclassified.
Gaudet clarified any funding is allocated based on classification.
“Cities, of course, will get more,” he told the council “Towns will get more, villages will get more. Where we sit as a rural community, we will be at the bottom of that.”
Coun. Alexa Detorakis argued that with the evolving naturing of fiscal reform and the potential for the province to download more services, but was quickly shut down by Craig who said the motion was not about whether to become a town, but to send the package to the province for approval.
“You need a local voice because the ones that know what the local issues are at the same time not all councils are equipped to deal with complex issues,” she said.
Gaudet said the biggest advantage to a reclassification is the ability to create a municipal plan.
“The municipal plan allows for a lot more local control, local limitations to setting guidelines versus using the provincial guidelines,” he said in an interview with The Courier.
It is not quite clear, according to Gaudet, how the province actually calculates the equalization grants.
“I think just by the general rule, towns require more funds, and you’re classified with other municipalities that are towns versus being a rural community,” he said. “There are some rural communities in New Brunswick that have no assets. They may have a building, but that’s it. We have not just buildings, but arenas, a very complex infrastructure with water and sewage. So, just by that alone, just by that definition, towns require more funds.”
According to the Department of Local Government, it must submit a proposal to the Local Government Commission.
The process from there triggers a series of recommendations to various levels of government.
“The Lieutenant-Governor in Council makes the final decision, following a recommendation from Cabinet,” the department said in response to questions from The Courier.
It said if a rural community was to be reclassified into a town, it would be required to animal control, police protection, and fire protection services, formally administered by the province on their behalf.
Much of which Eastern Charlotte already does.
“I think this council has really realized that that probably wasn’t the best decision out of the gate and now let’s reset that,” Gaudet said.
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