Treasurer Michael Beal talks taxes at Tuesday’s special council meeting

Tantramar Town Council spent about 40 minutes Tuesday discussing next year’s operating budget, but could not come to a consensus on whether to hold tax rates steady or raise them to make up for a provincially imposed property assessment freeze.

“Setting the tax rate is council’s prerogative. It’s one of the things council gets to do,” Treasurer Michael Beal said after a presentation that lasted more than an hour. It concluded with a slide showing four options.

When Councillor Allison Butcher pressed him for a recommendation, Beal said he would favour something close to Option 4 which would mean tax increases for Sackville, Dorchester and the former local service districts (LSDs) that would raise nearly $240,000 in additional revenue.

In referring to his table, Beal explained that Option 1 would continue on the same path that council has been following since amalgamation in 2023: a slight decrease in municipal tax rates for Sackville and Dorchester with five cent increases per $100 of assessment in the Sackville and Dorchester LSDs and an increase of just over four cents in Point de Bute LSD ($0.415).

Option 2 would mean no increases in municipal tax rates next year.

Options 3 would mean five and four cent tax increases in the LSDs while Option 4 would mean two cent increases in Sackville and Dorchester with five and four cents in the LSDs.

Budget cuts

Beal explained that the town could balance its budget without tax increases and cuts in services partly because he eliminated a $250,000 transfer to the capital reserve fund — money that he said would help pay for future capital expenditures.

He also reduced the budget for council initiatives from $50,000 to $20,000 and did not include a $50,000 request from public works for additional asphalt street patching.

Beal said he had shifted $150,000 for the purchase next year of new radios for the Sackville fire department from the operating budget to capital, thereby reducing the money available for other capital projects.

He said the additional revenue from Option 4 would give the town more choices such as, for example, putting the radios back into the operating budget leaving more money for other capital projects.

Assessment freeze

Mayor Andrew Black

Mayor Black lamented the one-year provincial freeze on property assessments.

“The decision was made without asking any municipalities if this was a good idea,” he said, adding that the financial crunch on local governments will only get worse as prices for everything continue to rise.

“I think it’s important to note that the finance department and staff have had the foresight to slightly decrease our taxes in Sackville and Dorchester over the last couple of years so that we can attempt as staff and council to keep our taxes at a reasonable level,” he said.

“There are municipalities across the province who have dropped their tax rates drastically over the last couple of years and are now going to be struggling to attempt to deliver the services that they can because there’s an assessment freeze so we are going to be in a better position because of fiscal foresight by staff and I want to just make that point that I want to give kudos to administration and finances for doing that,” Black added.

Councillors weigh in

Councillor Barry Hicks said he favoured Option 2, no increase in taxes, adding that the town contracts out projects that could be done in-house.

“I feel we can generate some extra money there,” he said.

Councillor Josh Goguen

Councillor Josh Goguen noted that the question of whether to raise taxes is definitely a loaded one especially with an election looming next May.

“At first, I was kind of going towards Option 2 because I wanted to keep everything status quo,” he said, adding, however, that he was concerned about removing the $50,000 for street patching and also saw the importance of new radios for Sackville’s fire department.

“I think I’m more leaning towards Option 4,” Goguen said.

“If we make a communication strategy to be able to say this is what your tax dollars are going to, I think it’ll help the residents kind of swallow that pill a bit more,” he added.

“Is it the best option, no, but is it what the municipality needs? I would say yes,” Goguen said.

Mayor Black agreed that municipal costs are rising.

“It’s important to recognize that just as everybody in the province of New Brunswick and arguably across the nation is facing increases in every aspect of their life, that directly impacts municipalities as well,” he said, adding that the cost of asphalt for patching has doubled.

“That’s just one thing, but every cost that the municipality faces is going up,” the mayor said, noting that the expensive fire department radios are needed to maintain public safety.

Black noted that the assessment freeze is only supposed to last one year, so the financial outlook may change in 2027, but in the meantime he said, it might make sense either to keep tax rates the same or maybe bump them up a little bit.

Councillor Bruce Phinney

Councillor Bruce Phinney said he favoured no tax increases.

“Maybe it’s time for us to really hold things as they are, tighten our belt and find ways of being able to still provide the services that we do,” he said.

“There’s a lot of people that are not in the position to be able to afford the increases,” he added.

Councillor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell said she was leaning to Option 4 raising taxes, but added she agreed with Councillor Hicks that the extra $240,000 in revenue should not be spent on contracting out services.

She suggested the extra revenue should go toward the road patching budget and the new radios for Sackville fire.

Councillor Michael Tower said he found it hard to go with Option 4.

“The idea of putting up the tax rate that much doesn’t sound right to me,” he added.

He suggested that taxes have been high in the past because the municipality put so much money into its capital reserve fund.

He said he might be able to go with the smaller tax rate increases in Option 3, but also agreed with Councillor Hicks that the town should not be contracting out as much work as it does.

Treasurer Beal showed a slide on how much extra homeowners would pay per year and per month if tax rates went up one cent and one-and-a-half cents on homes assessed at $150,000, $300,000 and $450,000:

“Nobody wants taxes to go up. Everybody would like to pay less for everything,” said Councillor Allison Butcher, adding that municipal costs are rising.

Councillor Allison Butcher

“Raising taxes is a frightening thing, but if someone has a $300,000 home and it goes up one-and-a-half cents, they’re paying a total of $45 more for the whole year. That’s a sweater,” she said.

“I can do without one sweater and my house isn’t $300,00o either,” she added. “We’re talking the cost of a coffee a month.”

Butcher said while it’s unpopular to favour raising taxes, it’s important for the municipality to have a financial buffer to deal with unforeseen expenses.

“For those reasons, I think Option 4 is the one I like best.”

In the end, Treasurer Beal said that when council meets again on Monday to hear a presentation of the draft utility budget, he will prepare various resolutions on the various options for the draft operating budget.

“If none of those pass, then we need to have more discussion,” he said. “If we have resolutions for four options and none of those pass, then we’re having the next meeting to talk about, ‘What do we want to do, right?'”

Note: Councillor Greg Martin did not comment during the meeting. Deputy Mayor Matt Estabrooks was absent.