The District of Port Edward will not be raising taxes for residents and businesses next year.
Council gave its initial readings to the property tax rate schedule at its April 28 meeting and will be leaving the mill rate the same for all property classes, including a mill rate $5 per $1,000 of assessed value for residents and $12.50 per $1,000 of assessed value for businesses.
As well as the property tax schedule, council held its initial vote on the district's five year financial plan, which projects a minimum $61,000 surplus every year between 2015 and 2019. According to figures contained in the plan, residential taxes currently account for five per cent of the total budget at $182,684, while the largest annual source of income is the share of taxes from Ridley Island valued at $578,738.
This year council members decided to transfer $982,500 from reserves which will allow them to undertake a significant capital projects plan. Details of what projects the $982,500 will be spent on were not made available, though the report from director of corporate administrative services Polly Pereira lists "upgrades to the Wolf Creek Road" and "the purchase of the Telus land" as approved expenditures.
While the budget is still open to public discussion, Coun. James Brown said he would like to have staff get quotes for private security for Port Edward in light of a recent rash of vandalism in the community.
"I think we need to step up security. I think this is only really the start of it," he said, noting he has concerns with how the RCMP has handled the situation.
"We are getting less presence and less of a response from them."
However, before getting quotes, Mayor Dave MacDonald said it would be prudent to have representatives from the detachment come to speak to council, an idea Brown agreed with. The mayor also said it was important to recognize either security or RCMP have their limitations.
"The RCMP can't be everywhere all the time either ... they could be up at the top of town and the people could be down at the waterfront making a mess of things we then have to pay for," he said.