Councillor’s Communiqué : September 2006 - Issue # 106

Once this tender on Phase 1 closes and awarded, the residents will be advised of the winning bidder with contact information in order for any of them wanting to enquire about supplementary paving for their own driveways while the work crews are in the area.

I want to personally thank and publicly acknowledge the efforts of Eastern Shore MLA - Bill Dooks for his cooperation and determination in seeing that our local road priorities have not been overlooked nor forgotten.

It is planned to have Phase 2 of this bulk paving program to address the Keltic Gardens Subdivision area next year and the remaining subdivision streets in the Lawrencetown area to follow in the third year. Now as we await the results of this first bulk tender package; only then can we accurately gauge and estimate how much paving can be realized in future bulk tender packages. Hopefully world oil prices will remain somewhat constant and static because the cost of the petroleum based asphalt pitch will have a great bearing on the total cost of future paving projects.

The tax calculation is based on the assessed value of the property multiplied by the applicable tax rate. The assessed value is the market value of the property at a base date as determined by Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations of the Provincial Government. The tax rate is the sum of two levies - a general rate ( Urban $1.228; Suburban $1.125; or Rural $1.119 ) and any other applicable area tax rates within a district.

During the 2006-07 HRM Budget debates, Regional Council decided to review its Revenue Strategy and will be embarking upon a public consultation as an effort to revamp and remodel its taxing regime. Due to the wide variation and astronomical increases in property values in the current process used by Provincial Assessments; market value assessments have no consistent link to services available, ability to pay or cost of services. HRM wants this to change this and we will be reviewing this taxing dilemma while we re-analyse our Municipal Revenue Strategy for 2006-07 and beyond.

In the meantime, there has been some significant reductions in our own local area tax rates. The Community Transit Rate has been cut almost in half from $0.052 down to $0.028 and the District 3 Capital Area Rate ($0.024) has been retired and eliminated entirely. Hopefully these reductions will help offset the shock from any property assessment increases.