TRURO, N.S. – Truro residents are being subjected to a new Road Preservation Tax to as a way to both repair and maintain the town’s aging streets.
“One of the number one concerns for citizens is the condition of town roads,” Mayor Bill Mills said, following this week’s approval of the town’s annual operating budget.
The new tax will see residential property rates increase by 4.25 cents per $100 of assessment. For a property assessed at $100,000, the tax will result in an annual increase of $42.50. For commercial property owners, it will represent an increase of 3.75 cents per $100 of assessment.
“As with many other towns we struggled with how to address this issue,” Mills continued. “Understandably, further taxing property owners is never the ideal solution. By using the funds generated to directly improve the condition of our streets we are hopeful property owners may be more accepting, especially when they begin to see results.”
Speaking to the Truro Daily News following the meeting regarding the Road Preservation Tax, CAO Mike Dolter said that all roads and streets that receive work under the new funding will be reported on the town’s website, along with the amount of funds raised and spent.
The new tax is projected to generate $342,000 this year. And any funds not used in a given year will remain in the reserve for the following year’s projects.
“Council heard loud and clear that roads are the major issues,” he said.
Dolter added the tax will enable the town to both repair and maintain roads at the same time with an aim to improving the overall standards of the aging infrastructure, he said.
“Eventually we will be doing more maintaining than fixing.”
Council approved a general operating budget of $28,237,804, an increase of two per cent over the previous year’s budget. There was no additional increase to the general residential property tax rate, which remains unchanged at $1.83 per $100 of assessed value.
In delivering the budget to council, Deputy Mayor Tom Chisholm said the increase is to cover the loss of 0.3 per cent in the commercial tax base, which has a projected loss of $130,000.
Highlights of that increase are to enable the creation of an extra firefighter position, absorb a 2.5 per cent labour increase of the town’s union (CUPE) contract and to allow for improvements to the Douglas Street Recreation Centre and Victoria Park pool.
The sewer rate will also increase by seven cents, from 63 cents to 70 cents per cubic meter from. The sewer charge is based on a property owner’s water intake.
The capital budget has been set at $1,852,94, of which $940,145 is to come from the Federal Gas Tax Fund.
Further details on Truro’s 2018-19 budget can be found at: www.truro.ca .
The following streets have been identified for the first year of activity from the Road Preservation Tax:
Esplanade – Young Street to Forrester Street
Prince Street – Whitman Street to Willow Street
Prince Street – Cottage Street to Lyman Street
Young Street – Fairview Street to Glenwood Drive
Willow Street – Glenwood Drive to McClures Mills (not a full re-paving but rather spreader patches)
Arthur Street – King Street to Pleasant Street
Treaty Trail – Tower Road to Rachel Marshall Street
Walker Street – Queen Street to Salmon River Bridge
