Cbc News: Town and Tax Hikes

cbc news: Winners by default: No election needed in Bredenbury, Sask, according to CBC. Mayor Grant McCallum, acclaimed to lead the the next council, said decades of minimal tax increases in the 80s and 90s have left the town of about 500 people on the hook for some major increases in the coming years in light of big infrastructure projects the town needs to move ahead on sooner than later. "There are going to be some tough decisions to be made, unpopular decisions to come up with a plan to raise that money and it going to involve some tax hikes," McCallum told CBC News. In fact, the town about 215 kilometres northeast of Regina only had enough interest to fill the mayor seat and two town councillor positions, leaving four councillor seats vacant. He added this year municipal agenda includes a couple of multi-million-dollar projects including a lagoon expansion, upgrades to the water treatment plant and road resurfacing. To my knowledge this has never happened in the town.- Diane Jamieson, Saltcoats administrator "The way costs have gone up, the predicament we're in wasn't foreseen and the town is in a decent cash position, it just that we don't have reserves to pull off a number of these projects all at once so … there will be some tax increases which are more than what the folks are used to," he said. "Clearly we find ourselves in the 2000s without reserves to maintain or upgrade and even improve the current infrastructure." Province steps in to help Without enough candidates to even make quorum, the town administration reached out to intergovernmental affairs in the ministry of government relations to assist in filling those council vacancies. McCallum said Public Works also needs a suitable shop because right now they're using an old theatre. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.