‘We’re not second-class citizens’
CBRM holding public budget consultation sessions
Like many people who live outside of the Sydney core, Walter MacPhail feels like he’s being overtaxed and underserviced by the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
MacPhail was one of 13 residents who attended the CBRM’s public budget consultation session for District 4 on Monday night.
He said while rural areas — including Sydney River, Coxheath and Westmount in District 4 — account for more than 46 per cent of the taxes collected by the municipality, they don’t see the return, which Sydney receives in services like water and sewer.
“We pay taxes — more taxes — but we’re getting squat,” said MacPhail, who has lived in Sydney River for the past 48 years and is the developer behind the Hampton Estates neighbourhood, which he figures alone represents more than $260,000 in tax revenue for the CBRM.
“We’re not second-class citizens in this area and I think we deserve a bit of development over here. After all, these are the growing areas where tax money is coming in for new homes, new families moving out of Sydney.”
CBRM CAO Marie Walsh, who was chairing the session in place of Mayor Cecil Clarke, said it’s common to hear rural taxpayers express concerns over the amount of taxes they pay for the services they receive. However, she said, tax rates reflect those discrepancies in many cases, noting that people served by volunteer departments pay less for fire services, and homes that aren’t connected to the municipal system don’t have to pay water bills.
“I think for the rural communities it’s always a struggle to see what they’re getting for their tax dollars,” she said. “It’s not always so visible but as I pointed out this evening tax dollars are not just for the obvious services, they’re for this things like education, corrections, housing. It’s for the regional facilities like Centre 200, for the community resources that we support like the Savoy Theatre, the Bayplex — all of those things you may not consider when you’re paying your taxes, but really, they’re a benefit to everybody.”
Residents in District 4 will see their tax dollars at work in coming months as a major wastewater project to clean up Sydney harbor begins. The 10- year, $58-million project — which the municipality is sharing the cost of equally with the provincial and federal governments —will eventually see three sewage outfalls on the western side of the harbour redirected to a treatment plant in North Sydney.
“Nobody gets excited about wastewater because they don’t see it as an issue, but if you think about it and you think about Sydney harbour, picture the days when there was no sewer going into Sydney harbour and you had beaches,” said Walsh. “So the harbour is going to be completely clean — there’s not going to be any outfalls going into the harbour in years to come. We’ll be able to swim in the harbour once again, so to me I think it’s a huge issue. But again, wastewater never seems to get anybody excited — and it’s expensive.”
Coun. Steve Gillespie said even though Sydney River, Westmount, and Coxheath have a considerable population and its own thriving business district, it’s lumped in with Sydney.
“There’s over 10,000 people in my district, but we’re not looked at as a part of another entity, we’re looked at as a part of Sydney,” he said, noting that busing, increased policing and additional funding for volunteer fire departments are some of the services his constituents want.
“Services would really help in how we see ourselves and what we can do to contribute.”
The budget consultations continue tonight in District 11 (Coun. Kendra Coombes) from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 3236 Plummer Ave., in New Waterford. The District 6 (Coun. Ray Paruch) meeting is Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. at St. Theresa’s Hall, 285 St. Peter’s Rd., in Sydney, followed by the District 7 (Coun. Ivan Doncaster) session Friday from 6-8 p.m. at the East Bay Legion, 2317 Kings Rd., in Sydney Forks. The rest of the meetings are as follows: Dist. 9 (Coun. George MacDonald), Sunday, 6-8 p.m., Glace Bay Fire Hall, 87 Reserve St., Glace Bay; Dist. 8 (Coun. Amanda McDougall), Monday, 6-8 p.m., Albert Bridge Fire Hall, 4330 Louisbourg Hwy., Albert Bridge; District 10 (Coun. Darren Bruckschwaiger), Nov. 29, 6-8 p.m., Dominion Fire Hall, 14 Commercial St., Dominion; District 5 (Coun. Eldon MacDonald), Nov. 30, 6-8 p.m., Centre 200, 481 George St., Sydney; District 12 (Coun. Jim MacLeod, Dec. 4, 6-8 p.m., St. Michaels Polish Village Hall, 954 Victoria Rd., Sydney.