Tempers flare

A County resident says that increases to property taxes for seniors living on fixed incomes should be capped at no more than one per cent per year.

Residents insist council cut staff and operations before services and facilities

It was an angry group of ratepayers who greeted members of council and County administrators Wednesday night in Bloomfield. Many are frustrated with the prospect their property taxes could take another big jump this year.

Mayor Mertens explained to the crowd that the purpose of the Bloomfield town hall, like other meetings in Ameliasburgh and Waupoos, was to learn what County residents think needs to stay, and what needs to go.

“The fact of the matter is that we don’t have enough income to pay for what we want to do,” said Mertens. “The number you are looking at is not acceptable to anyone. But the reality of the matter is, it’s one way or the other. Do you want the services? Then you’re going to have to pay the price.”

CAO Merlin Dewing said his goal was to make sure, when all is said and done, that money could be put in reserves, something the County has not been doing.

“The problem is more than just an annual budget number, it’s more than just choosing a service you want to keep or not keep,” said Dewing. “It’s looking at our complete package of what we’re delivering, and how we can do that in the most cost-effective way. So when council asked me to make recommendations with respect to, we want to do all the same things, we don’t want to raise taxes and we don’t want to get rid of staff, that’s a difficult chore to come up with a solution.

“We can do all those things in an organized fashion if we look at the whole picture because some of the service we’re doing we don’t really need to do. Some of them we’re doing incorrectly or poorly, and the money we’re spending on them could be more appropriately put to reserves.”

Councillor Bev Campbell gave an overview of the budget as it stands. The County needs $51 million to operate. A little over half of that comes from property taxes. The rest comes from permits and usage fees, federal and provincial funds, and reserve money.

That means more money in property tax, a matter that dominated the discussion.

In 2008, when MPAC did its last assessment of housing, it increased the average County property value by 30 per cent. Council chose to phase that amount in, charging taxpayers an additional 7.4 per cent annually each year from 2009 to 2012.

The County has charged slightly less each year per unit for property tax, though on average taxes were still increased significantly.

This year MPAC will reassess those properties, as it does every four years. If the corporation raises the value of County homes, that means next year, taxpayers will see an increase unless the County substantially drops its tax rate.

That’s unlikely, considering the annual increase in the discrepancy between cost and revenue.

Most called-for cuts at the meeting were jobs and salaries at Shire Hall.

Mark Larratt-Smith, one of the attendees of the meeting, wasn’t impressed with the ultimatum the County was offering—choose services to cut or pay more taxes. He said the first step should be to look at spending within its operations, rather than cutting entire pieces away.

“What if you can get the value people need for a better dollar?” Larratt- Smith asked. “It seems to me that we’re being asked here, as citizens, to say what’s good and what’s bad. It’s all good, but part of the problem is there’s a strong sense that consolidation, that integration of the County has not been done well enough to be able to achieve the things that people need.”