Municipal reform could be costly to communities, says mayor of Saint Andrews

By Vicki Hogarth, Charlotte County Television

October 14, 2022

SAINT ANDREWS – The public isn’t fully aware yet of the many challenges related to cost when it comes to municipal reform – costs that could affect residents in the long-term, said Saint Andrews Mayor Brad Henderson in an interview on this week’s edition of Your Town Matters.

"One of the challenges that the town council and the Town of Saint Andrews has right now is this,” he said. “The people that the residents of the Town of Saint Andrews elected to be their representatives right now have no say in the budget process this year."

"The average assessment of a home in St. Andrews appears to be going up about 13 per cent," he said. "People are receiving their assessments in their mail right now. I just got mine, which was a 26 per cent increase. They are record-high assessments, and that comes after consecutive years of big assessments."

Normally the town has been able to offset the rise in home assessments and property tax by establishing a fair mill rate to balance it out, Henderson explained.

"Last year, we lowered it because the assessments were so high.”

But with province-wide amalgamation taking place, the town's hands are tied as the province takes control of municipal budgets.

“This year, we don't have the power to set our own mill rate,” he said.

“The province of New Brunswick has appointed facilitators for every community, including Saint Andrews, to say that this is what your budget is going to be, so I as mayor and with my council don't know if the mill rate's going to go down or if it's going to stay the same.”

With municipal reform, there are also more costs for our community when you look at economic development, Henderson said.

“We have to put money towards a regional fund now that we never did in the past – almost $50,000 towards tourism, for example. And then there are other subcommittees that are going to need funding, and our costs for salaries for town staff are going to go up,” he said.

“For example, a CAO or even a fire chief's responsibilities have increased where they're now looking after a larger population and geographical area. Are they entitled to compensation increases because the responsibility has gone up? Cost assessments are up, and that's one of the challenges that we're struggling with right now."