Pictou County maintaining same tax rate, sets budget

Rural county residents will not see a rise in tax rates in the upcoming fiscal year.

County council agreed Monday the residential tax rate would remain at 0.81 cents per $100 assessment and the commercial rate will continue at $1.82 per $100 assessment.

Council also approved its 20182019 operating budget which comes in at $17,443,01, about $200,000 more than last year’s budget. The county expects to collect $15.8 million in taxes which makes up the largest amount of its revenue. Other revenue comes from grants in lieu of taxes and transfers from other governments.

On the expenditure side, the Municipality of Pictou County will pay its two largest bills to education at $4.9 million and protective services at $4.5 million.

The county also adopted a $5.4 million capital budget over five years that includes ongoing water and sewer work as well as the installation of sidewalks all within the first year of the five-year plan. It is currently in the process of finishing up water and sewer projects in Alma Springfield Estates, Abercrombie and McLellans Brook which will be coming out of its reserve funds.

About $700,000 in expenses will come from its operating fund and will include LED street lights, a vehicle purchase, improvements to the municipal building and paving of J class roads.

The county also approved its water utility budget for 2018-2019 in the amount of $408,395, and approved $301,000 in community and marketing grants as well as $191,850 in municipal grants.

Warden Robert Parker thanked staff for the work on the budget and allowing council to hold its tax rate.

In regard to the grants, he said some groups will be disappointed they did not get all the money they requested, but many organizations were helped.

“it is the hardest meeting of the year to sit in on,” he said about making difficult funding decisions.

Parker said some budget expenses were able to be reduced while others such as education and protective services are out of its control.

“On our tax rate, I am happy we were able to hold the rate, and hopefully we can stick to budget and come in at those numbers,” he said.