Tantramar council passed a number of budget resolutions this week, setting capital and operating budget spending as well as tax rates for the municipality.

2024 tax rates for Tantramar, per $1000 of assessed property value

• Former town of Sackville: 1.5389 (down 0.0095 from last year)
• Former village of Dorchester: 1.5415 (down 0.0225 from last year)
• Former Sackville LSD: 0.5625 (0.974 w/ provincial portion, up 0.05 from last year)
• Former Point de Bute LSD: 0.7637 (1.1752 w/ provincial portion, up 0.05 from last year)
• Former Dorchester LSD: 0.6411 (1.0526 w/ provincial portion, up 0.05 from last year)

The slew of motions also included one that commits council to reviewing how it divvies up the fiscal responsibility for some of the services that are deemed ‘shared’. As treasurer Michael Beal explained to council, when the cost of running the municipality is allocated to the different areas, the share covered by former Local Service Districts (LSDs) is calculated at 90 percent, a decision made by the provincial consultant who was hired to create Tantramar’s first budget.

“The shared service model says that as you go further from the central core services, the local service districts should pay less for some of those shared services. The 90% was chosen by the province, and we don’t know why that was chosen,” said Beal. So staff recommended, and council approved, taking on the task of evaluating that shared services rate.

“Should it be 90? Should it be 80? Should it be 100? It’s not a quick analysis,” said Beal. “It’s going to take some time.” The analysis will take place sometime in the first half of 2024, and will present an opportunity for council to discuss the fairness of the municipality’s tax system.

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