New town budget to support business, parking and more

Rental bylaws, Wolfville 125, paving the west end of Main Street and more economic development – these are some of the items from this year’s town budget in Wolfville.

Council announced March 20 it had approved the new $10.1-million operating budget.

The budget contains items like a residential tax rate increase of 0.58 per cent, compared to last year’s 1.1 per cent.

Businesses will see a drop in their commercial tax rate of 2.56 per cent, with a $3.57 per $100 of assessment.

Council also listed its priorities for the year, including:

• Celebrate Wolfville’s 125 years of incorporation with events and activities;

• Implementing a residential rental business bylaw;

• Continue work on the multiyear plan to mill and pave the west end of Main Street; and

• Shell out $128,400 in grants to various community organizations, among others.

The town is also emphasizing economic development, focusing on keeping support for the area’s booming food, craft brewing and wine industries, along with designs for better parking management for Wolfville’s downtown area.

The town also stated this marks the second year it has approached the budget process with a fouryear operations plan in mind.

Mike Maclean, director of financial services for the town, said council’s four-year plan is never set in stone, but rather a set of guidelines council looks to keep in mind while tackling budgets one year at a time.

“These are always based on projections, so we reassess every year, and always approve budgets on a one-year basis only,” he said.

What’s Middleton’s claim to fame? Council might just be asking you that question in the near future.

The Town of Middleton can have two big Highway 101 signs depicting the community’s claims to fame, but council seemed unsure of exactly what local residents would want to see promoted.

It was an issue that Mayor Sylvester Atkinson said goes back to 1993. “It’s never happened,” he said during a committee of the whole meeting March 19.

While suggestions were made that included ‘The Birthplace of Mona Parsons’ and ‘Home of the First Consolidated School in Canada,’ councillors thought there should be a process started to figure out what would be best.

While the town’s slogan ‘Heart of the Valley’ was brought up in discussions, Coun. Gail Smith questioned what that actually meant and was it a claim to fame. It was also suggested other towns be polled to see how they approached the problem.

Atkinson said such highway signage generally pertains to the biggest, the oldest, or the first.

“When you do a highway sign, what do you want on that?” CAO Rachel Turner asked after the meeting. “So there’s some work in my mind that needs to be done first around branding or marketing to ensure that there’s a message there – that it’s a consistent thing that the community wants to have there. Whatever is going to go there we’d like it to last and we’d like to be able to market that as an overall piece for the town. My thought is ‘what’s the process that needs to happen?’”

She said the highway signs issue has been on the books for a number of years, with the former council as well. She said cost of the signs, $5,000 each, is in the budget. She said that amount includes the graphic design and getting the signs made and put in place.

“They want to get a consultant in to look at what that might be,” she said.

Turner said council could simply decide based on a consultant’s report, or it could be more of a public process.

“There are a couple of great things that could go there (on the signs), but if the community isn’t aware of them, if there isn’t that buy-in, how does a community promote itself if they don’t believe it? So getting that input and buy-in and developing it from the ground roots up would be great process,” she said. “It could develop some great momentum and excitement in the community.

She said a consultant could incorporate the public consultation process into the project.