Your tax rates are going up if you live in the Municipality of the District of Guysborough.
Municipal councillors passed their 2019-20 budget Wednesday.
The nearly $18 million budget includes a five-cent increase to the municipality’s residential and commercial tax rates, the second such increase in as many years.
After March’s regular municipal council meeting Wednesday, Vernon Pitts, Guysborough’s warden, said they were faced with a $1 million shortfall because of the decommissioning of the Sable Offshore project, and they had to make that money up somewhere.
“We have programs, we have facilities (and) infrastructure in place within the municipality, and we have to pay for these things- we have to pay for the capital as well as the operating,” he said. “This was one of the easier ways to do it- everybody takes a little hit, but everybody benefits, too, when the times are good.”
The new residential rate is $0.71/$100 of assessment, while the new commercial rate is $2.68/$100 of assessment.
Pitts said he doesn’t expect any negative feedback from residents, since they still maintain the lowest residential tax rate in the province.
Fin Armsworthy, the municipal councillor for District 8 (Canso-Tickle), says the budget is very disappointing.
Armsworthy tells The Hawk the tax increase might not seem like a lot of money, but it could be a lot to someone facing tough times.
“They say $20- well $20 ends up to be $40 (with back-to-back increases), $40 ends up to be a little bit of groceries for the year.”
Armsworthy says tax increases make people not want to build homes in the area and turn business away.
He says municipal officials could have absorbed any shortfalls through their large operating reserve instead of increasing tax rates.
