Municipal by-elections are set to be held in December, and while some municipalities have many candidates, others have none.
16 seats became vacant in recent months, including for some local politicians to run provincially. With more responsibilities downloaded onto this level of government, Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick President Brittany Merrifield said it’s getting hard to get people involved in municipal politics.
“We certainly have more work than we ever had before through the local governance,” she said in an interview. “I know that personally my work has not quite doubled, but it’s certainly approaching that.”
In Saint John, 10 candidates are vying for Ward 3. Meanwhile, Campobello and Tracy both saw no candidates running. At least four municipalities saw councillors be acclaimed, meaning only one candidate submitted it’s papers in those wards.
This is the second time Campobello has been unable to fill its candidate seat.
Mayor Harvey Matthews said it is a lot of work for a small island like Campobello for not a lot of compensation.
“The government has dropped so much in our laps since amalgamation (and) that has put our taxes up now this year,” he said speaking with CHCO-TV. “Our RCMP coverage is going up considerably. It’s hard to decide to pay councillors more.”
Municipalities are limited in the sources of funding they can pull from. The sole source is property tax revenue, which means any increase in the budget must come from an increase in assessment or increasing the tax rate.
Matthews said the council is attempting to remove the ward-based system to potentially entice more candidates to sign up. In municipal politics, the candidate is required to live in the area they serve, and with a ward system, they must live in that ward.
“Hopefully someone from one of the other parts of Campobello would run,” he said.
Merrifield said people often forget that municipal government is the one that impacts your day-to-day life the most.
“Public service is absolutely the backbone of everything that happens in a municipality,” she said. We’re the level or the order of government that is closest to the people.”
She said it is imperative people become active in the local government, which decides things like garbage pickup and recycling, what roads and streets are repaired, how your tax rate is set, and what services you receive locally like recreation.
“I think being engaged in civic government, whether it’s voting, whether it’s watching council meetings, and whether it’s serving your community, it’s absolutely one of the most important things a person can do to make sure that your community is the best that it can be,” she said.
Alongside the increased workload though, Merrifield said municipal politicians are facing harassment as well.
“That is an impediment to people in terms of putting their name out to serve or maybe even re-offering,” she said. “There’s been a real shift in terms of municipal staff and elected officials being subjected to negative treatment from the public and sometimes even within councils as well. So, we’re working hopefully with the new provincial government on addressing this problem that affects all orders of government.”
Ultimately, Merrifield hopes that people see the value in being a part of local government.
“They call it the government of proximity and that is so true,” she said. “We deal with all of those services that are so critical to your everyday life.”
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