ANTIGONISH, N.S. - Town of Antigonish council passed their 2018-19 budget during a special meeting, June 21, and it includes a three cent increase for both the residential and commercial tax rate.
The rate is set at $1.09 for residential and resource and $2.61 for commercial properties, per $100 of taxable assessment.
The fire levy is $0.0331 per $100 of assessment and taxes are to be paid by July 31.
The town estimates $10,442, 936.26 as necessary expenditures for this budget, and a revenue other than taxes of $5,094,754.23, so the net required to be raised by taxation is $5,348,182.03.
Mayor Laurie Boucher attributed the need for the increase by pointing to the town’s plan to create a marketing and communications position on town staff, and aiding St. F.X. with the costs from the Oland and Keating centers which, she points out, are used regularly by the broader community; especially for youth sports and activities.
“We’ve done many community engagements over the last couple of years and we’ve come to the conclusion there are a lot of things we’re doing well as a municipality, but there a lot of things we’re not doing so well at,” Boucher said.
“It has been brought to our attention, by our business community and our residents, that one of things we’re not doing very well is marketing and promoting our area. We heard this through the Downtown Business Association, the Chamber of Commerce, also through the Engage [Antigonish] sessions.”
Still talking about the position, Boucher said the person will help the town create a communication strategy as well.
“I really believe, over the last number of years, it’s one of the things we’re missing in our town, especially through Town Hall, is a communications strategy,” she said
“We need to find a way to let people know when something good is happening. There are a lot of good things we’re doing, the communications piece of that is not there.”
Communication when the bad happens as well, as Boucher pointed to the flood disaster in town in early February.
“I feel we handled it very well, but it was off the sides of some people’s desks,” she said. “We have to find a way to be able to fund a position so communication, internally and externally, is at the forefront.”
Facilities
With helping St. F.X. and their recreation facilities, Boucher noted one cent of the three cent raise, will go towards those costs.
“Although it’s on campus, it belongs to St. F.X., it really is a community building,” Boucher said, pairing the attached Oland and Keating centers into one big complex.
“A lot of our minor sports play there; our minor soccer plays on the turf field, minor basketball there, our swim program is there, swim lessons are there. If you go over most afternoons, you’ll see kids flowing over from the junior high, taking part in activities there. And, as they get older, our children start to coach there and become mentors themselves.
“It’s a very integral part of our community. If we were to build a building like that, I don’t know if we could sustain it. We could probably build it, but if you look at some of the newer buildings in the province, like in Truro and Pictou County, they’re running big deficits and we don’t want that.”
Boucher said the university came looking for assistants and council recognized the importance of the facilities on many levels.
“It’s an economic driver for our community; the recent swimming provincials [hosted by PHAST] were there, you think about all the hockey tournaments at Keating Centre, and if we didn’t have the Oland and Keating centers, we would not be hosting the Special Olympic Summer Games,” she said. “This is just a little piece of it and it shows them we appreciate they’re there for us.”
AREA money
Boucher was asked about revenue from the wind farm in Ellershouse, Antigonish is a partner in [Alternative Resource Energy Authority – AREA], and if that money could have kept taxes status quo.
“The money that is coming in from the Ellershouse Wind Farm, you’ll see it represented in our capital budget,” she said.
“We have a capital budget this year of just more than $2 million, so this is something like – making hay while the sun shines.
“The money coming in from AREA this year was $1.7 and, we’re thinking, next year it will almost be that much but not quite.
“The following years is when we start paying the principal down, right now we’re only paying interest; so that’s going to come down, substantially. If we were to put that [a new position] into general operating costs, we wouldn’t be able to sustain it. That’s the important thing.
“If we’re going to do something like a marketing and communications person, we have to find a way to sustain it, so this is what council decided.”
Still competitive
Boucher said the tax rate, for both residential and commercial, even with the increase, is still “substantially” lower than similarly-sized communities in the province.
“The other side of that coin is our assessments tend to be bit a bit higher, but our tax burden is still below average; that makes a difference as well,” she said. “Our tax burden per-household is still well below the average of the rest of the province.”
Boucher said council was pleased with what they were able to give out in community grants with this budget and noted, because it was the second time around for a couple of councillors first elected in 2016, the process went a little more “smoothly.”
“The new councillors have a good grasp of where the money is coming in and what our responsibilities are,” she said.
“I’m very proud of this budget; I think staff did a fantastic job of really listened to council, and to the people of Antigonish.”
