The warden of Richmond Co. says no tax increases meant cuts elsewhere.
June’s regular municipal council meeting, which took place Thursday night, was the first since councillors approved their 2019-20 municipal budget- without tax increases- at a special council meeting June 3.
After Thursday night’s meeting, Brian Marchand, Richmond Co.’s warden, said they considered a tax increase in early meetings.
“At the initial budget meetings (there was) talk of a $0.10 tax increase, and they managed to make the necessary cuts and changes to maintain the rate,” he said, “Council asked that they do that, try, and they did it- I’m very pleased with the job they did.”
Marchand said avoiding a tax increase did require them to make some tough choices.
“The idea was to try to maintain tax rates- yes, there was a lot of cuts that had to be made,” he said. “We used to give out quite a bit of money to organizations, and we’ve cut back a considerable amount.”
Marchand said he’s glad they were able to approve a budget without raising taxes.
