Key takeaways:
- $1M issued for a new fire hall.
- Summerside council will vote on the funding on March 31.
Property tax not increased in Summerside’s budget:
Summerside disclosed a $60.1 million budget on Wednesday evening — and while property taxes won’t be moving up, electricity and water and sewer rates will be.
The budget is split up with $28.5 million being paid on general government fees and $31.6 million for utilities.
The price of the electricity already hopped up on March 1 to match Maritime Electric rates — the city follows the utility based on a previous resolution.
Water and sewer will rise an average of $3.18 per month for residential customers.
“Our infrastructure, several of it is 100 years old. Those are the types of acquisitions that we have to maintain each year,” said Coun. Norma McColeman, Summerside’s chair of finance and deputy mayor.
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“Over the following ten years, some of those improvements are very pricey, but if we don’t keep that foundation of our city, then we are going to be running and falling behind, so we have to maintain that every year where we do that is via the rates of our citizens.”
The increases are needed to maintain good service for sewage and quality drinking water, McColeman stated.
Some councilors are nervous about improving the living price for Summerside citizens who are already dealing with a high inflation rate, including soaring gas prices.
“Timing brings to me as I talk to locals and differ how the present inflation of everything is impacting them. To add another cost onto them is problematic,” said Coun. Cory Snow.
“There are lots of costs throughout the budget that I would rank as wants, not necessarily requires that have to be done in a current fiscal year.”
Source – cbc.ca
