STRAIT AREA - Residential and commercial taxes aren't going up for the people of Richmond County and the Town of Port Hawkesbury. 

The municipal councils serving both areas passed their budgets for the fiscal year 2020-21 in June, and while both municipalities avoided red ink, the means used to achieve this feat - and the level of support from individual councilors - varied between the two municipal units.

In Richmond County, the residential tax rate held steady at 80 cents per $100 of assessment, while the commercial rate was unchanged at $2.10 per $100 of assessment. Spending cuts in several areas funded by multiple municipal units were part of the reason the municipality avoided a deficit, with Richmond officials halving the amounts they pay to Strait Area Transit - a community transportation service that includes Richmond County among its routes - and the Strait Area Pool, located at the SAERC high school site in Port Hawkesbury. 

The county's Chief Financial Officer, Jason Martell, pointed out that such difficult moves were necessary to offset two years' worth of declining commercial tax revenues. As an example, he pointed to Exxon Mobil's recent dismantling of its natural gas fractionation plant in the Point Tupper industrial park, which cost Richmond County $360,000 in lost commercial taxes.  

However, the Richmond budget did not receive across-the-board approval from county councillors. The lone elected member to vote against the budget, District Five councilor Jason MacLean, decried the community grant application system installed by council the previous year, and expressed concern over water and sewer rates applied to individual communities across the county.

While other Richmond councilors also expressed concern about the 2020-21 area rates, they did not vote against the budget itself. 

Meanwhile, in Port Hawkesbury, councilors unanimously voted to improve a budget that levied a residential tax rate of $1.80 per $100 of assessment and a commercial rate of $4.38 per $100 of assessment. 

According to the town's Director of Finance, Erin MacEachen, a deficit of $480,000 loomed before town officials agreed to use Port Hawkesbury's municipal reserves to stem the tide of red ink that was building up due to declining commercial tax revenues within the town. Earlier in the spring, MacEachen told TELILE 24/7 that this issue predated the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and could result in a shortfall of $600,000 by September, if immediate action was not taken by town council.