Saint Andrews Mayor Brad Henderson posted a video that went viral Friday night detailing his concern over how municipal reform will affect tax rates for residents of Bayside and Chamcook once they become a part of the municipality of Saint Andrews and are required to contribute to a long list of shared costs such as the library, the arena and the CAO's salary just to name a few. 

"It is going to be mandated that the Town of Saint Andrews pay 69% and the LSDs pay 31% of shared costs. Let's transition that into what this will do to your tax rate," said Henderson. "Based on these new shared services, the calculation I have before me is that the tax rate for Chamcook and Bayside should be going up 55%."

Henderson say that he thinks 31% is too high a percentage for Chamcook and Bayside to pay for shared expensese, but  he feels as if his hands are tied. He says the province has positioned itself to be in full control of municipalities' budgets once municipal reform goes into effect. 

"The province passed a rule that your mill rate can only go up 5 cents per $100 of assessed value, so this 55% tax rate isn't going to go up overnight. The transition time of the tax rate will go up over six years," said Henderson. "What I'm here to say is that not only are your assessments going up, your tax rate is going to go up significantly. The Province of New Brunswick has determined what shared services you are going to pay for and how much you're going to pay."

Minister of Local Government and Local Governance Reform Daniel Allain told CHCO he saw Mayor Henderson's video and is unaware of how Mayor Henderson came up with his projections for tax increases.

"I don't know where Mayor Henderson got ," said Minister Allain. If he could explain to us in the Local Governance Reform department where he got those numbers, then we can talk, but until I see those numbers--I don't deal with speculation and fear-mongering. There's a way to communicate, and the way to communicate is through our transition team, our Local Governance Team here in Fredericton, or through myself or through MLAs." 

We will continue following this story as it develops. In the meantime, candidates looking to put your name forward to run in the municipal election on November 28 must submit their papers by Friday, October 28. 

The 4th annual induction ceremony for the Greater St. Stephen Sports Wall of Fame took place at the Garcelon Civic Centre on Saturday night. Added to the Wall of Fame for 2022 were wrestling coach Patrick Zwicker, Marathon runner and powerlifter Thomas Stewart and the St. Stephen-St. Croix Baseball Team of 1957-1960. CHCO's entire coverage of the event will be available on our Facebook page and YouTube channel next week. 

Shiretown Community Services in collaboration with the All Saints Anglican Church has launched a weekly free community lunch called "Community Kitchen" taking place Fridays from 11:30am to 1:30pm at the Anglican Parish Hall in Saint Andrews. Lunch goers can dine in or take-out a selection of delicious offerings made by Helen-Ann Smith and her team of young cooks in training. The lunch offers an opportunity for those who have barriers to employment to learn job skills and also for the community to break bread together.