Municipal council in Saint Andrews will face tough budget decisions this fall, according to Mayor Brad Henderson.
The budget process for the municipality has just begun, but an initial presentation by chief administrative officer Chris Spears shows increases across much of the operational departments – mainly tied to inflation – with the utility budget and capital budget still to come.
This year, several groups made presentations for grants from the town, totalling $80,000.
“I will say that we did get presentations from a number of worthy organizations that need financial support, a lot of which previously came from the province of New Brunswick,” he said in an interview.
Henderson explains if the town were to fund all those, it would be equal to a tax base of about 1.5 cents on the mill rate.
“So, when you’re decreasing the amount of support from municipalities and asking them to do more, you have to look at the complete framework of of the fiscal situation.”
But this year comes with an additional challenge and uncertainty, Henderson said, with the election ongoing, property assessment numbers are in limbo due to the government operating in caretaker mode. He said he is optimistic about lowering the mill rate in some areas.
“Although we have no numbers due to the election right now, that we will be looking to reduce the mill rate in some of the wards,” he said.
Much of a municipality’s budget is based on property assessments, given out by the province.
“It’s important to note that the province does have a deadline for municipalities,” he said. I can’t see any municipality actually meeting their deadline because the municipalities aren’t getting the information they need to properly pass their budget,” he said, adding it was likely the town could decrease the mill rate in some wards.
He said this shines a bigger light on the need for fiscal reform in the wake of amalgamation.
“The reality is, when municipal reform happened, not only did communities merge together, but there was a download of services, in particular to the Regional Service Commission, and with that came no new revenue sources,” Henderson said. “In fact, equalization and transfer grants have been decreased. So, when you’re decreasing the amount of support from municipalities and asking them to do more, you have to look at the complete framework of of the fiscal situation.”
Several groups and municipalities have been calling for this reform to take place and at least one meeting to discuss that process was cancelled, while the government waited on a report from economists.
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Henderson said while they hope to decrease the mill rate in some areas, they hope to maintain in others like Chamcook and Bayside – regions absorbed in the reform process.
“Although council is going to have to debate it, I’m really hoping a situation is where, at least in Chamcook (and) Bayside, despite how it’s supposed to go up, that we were able to hold it at least at the same tax rate,” he said.
Council did discuss the fact these areas will require municipal services like garbage removal moving forward as it is now part of the municipality.
Henderson said council hopes to maintain the current standard of services.
“Right now, council has talked about no significant cuts,” he said. “However, it’s very early into the budget process. As we get more pressure on people paying more and inflation around you, sometimes you have to have tough conversations.”
Several more budget meetings are planned for this month, including a public feedback session at Bayside Community Hall on Oct. 10.