Grand Bay-Westfield Maintains Tax Rate For 2021

Residents in the town of Grand Bay-Westfield are getting an early holiday present of sorts.

Town council approved the 2021 general operating budget during Monday night’s meeting.

Mayor Grace Losier said the tax rate will be maintained at $1.37 per $100 of assessed value.

“The truth is that we are blessed with sufficient growth to enable us to maintain that rate,” said Losier. “That rate was identified since 2007.”

Total expenses have increased by around $80,000, or 1.3 per cent, to just over $6.3 million for 2021. That includes a 2.7 per cent increase in policing costs.

Losier said the municipality has been impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic, just like others in the region and around the world.

“There was a lot of revenue lost with rentals and just a lot of lost opportunity … but always with the loss of rentals, there’s savings too because you don’t have the same staff out there,” she said.

“Then there was new expenses to be introduced and all kinds of adaptations we had to make to equipment and offices, but once they’re done, they’re done. We believe we’re going to be just fine.”

Grand Bay-Westfield has set aside $850,000 from its budget for capital work in 2021. None of the money had to be borrowed, said Losier.

“Keeping the roads and streets in good condition, we’ll be doing lots of that again next year. We’ve got bunker equipment, things like that, to buy for the firefighters,” she said.

The town also hopes to do some recladding on the Grand Bay-Westfield Community Centrum to upgrade the facility.

Even though the tax rate is holding steady, the annual sewerage user fee has been increased by $15 to $285. The $15 discount for paying early has also been scrapped.

“We make contributions to the reserve fund each year within that budget, but they need to grow. We’ve got an aging system and we want to ensure that if something happens to it, we’ve got the money to pay for it,” said Losier.

“It’s not a huge increase to $285, although we recognize that it will be harder for some than others, but the truth is that’s a very affordable rate and we think that this is a year that we should introduce it.”

It is the first time the sewerage user fee has been increased since 2006, she said.