Councillor Bruce Phinney opposed tax increases

Property tax rates in Tantramar will be going up next year in the three former local service districts (LSDs), but will stay steady in Sackville and Dorchester at just over $1.53 per $100 of assessment ($1.5350.)

In a 7-1 vote today, council approved municipal tax increases of five cents per $100 of assessment in the former Sackville and Dorchester LSDs with a slightly lower increase in the former Point de Bute LSD of just over four cents ($0.415).

The increases in the former LSDs will help pay for shared municipal services such as fire and police protection, administrative services as well as parks and recreation programs.

Councillor Bruce Phinney voted against the increases arguing that with rising costs for everything else these days many residents can’t afford them.

“Let’s show the people that actually we really do care and that actually we want to not put more burden on them,” Phinney said after moving a motion calling for no tax increases next year.

His motion was soundly defeated opening the way for a second one moved by Councillor Michael Tower and seconded by Councillor Greg Martin that will impose tax increases on the former LSDs while maintaining the present tax rate in Sackville and Dorchester.

Treasurer Michael Beal said maintaining the present tax rate in the former town and village, instead of lowering it slightly, will raise an additional $83,373 that will go toward purchasing new TMR portable radios for  the Sackville fire department that will cost about $10,000 each.

Treasurer Michael Bea that will cost about $10,000 each.

Councillors Tower, Martin, Allison Butcher, Josh Goguen, Debbie Wiggins-Colwell as well as Mayor Andrew Black mentioned the need for radios which are considered safer.

Treasurer Beal explained the new, more expensive TMR radios wouldn’t trigger an explosion when firefighters press the push to talk button in situations where there are gases or combustible materials.

Sackville Fire Chief Craig Bowser told council that some of the current TMR radios his department uses are not safe.

“They are not even designed for the fire service, they’re not heat (proof), waterproof, none of that,” he said.

“There is a need to transition our whole operations of Tantramar fire service to TMR,” he added, “and to do that, we want to ensure that our firefighters are safe and operating off of safe comm (communications) in any type of environment that they’re in and to do that safely, we need to operate off the TMR system which would be the intrinsically safe, high-end-priced radios.”

Dorchester Fire Chief Greg Partridge

Chief Greg Partridge of the Dorchester Fire Department had a slightly different reaction when he was asked about the need for the new, TMR radios.

“We were the last in New Brunswick to sign on to this TMR,” he said, adding that the province gave them radios that weren’t suitable for the fire service.

“They were not high heat and not intrinsically safe,” he said.

“So, we have to carry two radios,” he added.

“It’s a pain in the butt, but it’s not a huge deal. My issue is the price of these radios. Now that the whole province has bought into this, these radios can just keep going and not stop.

“I think there should be an investigation to tell you the truth. $10,000 for a radio? It’s just absurd.

“Do we need them this year? No, we don’t need them this year as far as I’m concerned. It’s just an inconvenience to use a two-radio system and the radio that we have, that they (the province) gave us, you pretty much have to put it in your jacket to keep it away from the heat compared to what we’ve been using all along.”

Tantramar council has yet to formally approve the purchase of the new, pricey radios, but the extra revenue to pay for some of them next year is now in the operating budget.

Note: Councillor Barry Hicks was absent from today’s special council meeting.

To learn more about the province’s promotion of the TMR radios, click here.

To read a transcript of Chief Bowser’s report on the TMR radios at the October 27th, committee of the whole meeting, click here.

An earlier version of this story said, incorrectly, that the extra $83,373 was coming from the tax increases imposed on the former LSDs. In fact, that money is coming from maintaining the present tax rate in Sackville and Dorchester. Treasurer Beal presented a chart showing that lowering the tax rate in Sackville and Dorchester slightly while increasing the rates in the former LSDs would raise a total of 18, 302, 286 while maintaining the present tax rate in the former town and village would raise $18,385,659. The difference between the two figures is $83,373. To view his chart, click here.