Harbour Grace finally passes operating budget
It might have been the shortest council meeting in Harbour Grace’s storied history.
On Monday, Harbour Grace called a special council meeting to discuss its 2021 municipal operating budget and take a hard look at passing the document.
It had been just under five months since the town’s original budget had been tabled and about two months since a second, modified document had been defeated by town council.
This time, however, was different.
In a matter of moments, council voted to adopt its $3.7-million budget after the 13 minutes it took to discuss the document.
The details of the budget were not available, as the town was waiting for approval from the Department of Municipal Affairs before releasing the final document.
“Our budget is a tight budget, there is no doubt about it, but we’re trying to grow this town,” said Coun. Kathy Tetford. “We’re a large town with lots of roads and lots of water and sewer and things to be repaired, and we’re trying to do the best we can with the money we have, without raising taxes.”
There was a feeling that as the town, like the rest of the province, continues to slowly come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, raising taxes as a way to generate revenue was not the right thing to do.
For 2021, the mill rate will stay at 7.75. It has taken a lot longer to get to this point in the Harbour Grace budget process than anyone could have expected.
The budget was first tabled and passed in mid-january, and was sent to the Department of Municipal Affairs for approval.
That document was received on Jan. 20 by the provincial government. The department reviewed it and sent it back to the town with some adjustments that were to be included.
Those adjustments were made and the budget was again balanced. However, when council tabled the budget again at a February meeting, Harbour Grace Mayor Don Coombs made a motion that the town bring in an outside consultant to look at it.
At the time, he was concerned about the large deficit being carried by the town. That motion was carried by a 4-3 vote.
In his review, the consultant recommended adding the revenue generated from the impending sale of the former S.W. Moores Memorial Stadium to the budget.
However, on April 19, there was a vote to adopt the budget tabled in February, which failed after it was deadlocked at three votes apiece.
In between that meeting and now, Harbour Grace was waiting for the sale of the stadium before tabling the budget again.
That sale went through on May 10 and it was anticipated the town would settle its budget concerns quickly after that.
Leading into this week’s meeting, the town was informed the sale of the stadium could not be included in the budget document, which led council to vote again on the first revised version of the budget.
The budget had its detractors, and it wasn’t passed unanimously. The vote ended with five in favour of the budget and two voting against, including Coombs.
“There is just no vision,” he said of why he voted against the budget. “You have to have something in place.”
Despite Coombs’ apprehensions about the budget, there is some optimism on council.
The town anticipates getting caught up on its tax collection and, along with the influx of money from the stadium sale, the financial picture in Harbour Grace will be a bit rosier.
“We’re probably looking at a better financial outlook than we anticipated,” said Coun. Lyda Byrne.