People ‘well prepared’ for meeting
A Kings County group is trying to arm unincorporated residents with as much information about amalgamation as possible before public meetings are held later this week.
A group based in the unincorporated areas of Burnt Point and Georgetown Royalty released a document Saturday containing the answers to residents’ questions about the proposed Three Rivers amalgamation.
Ray Brow, who organized a meeting that collected the questions in August, said the goal was to provide as much information as possible prior to public consultation meetings being held this week.
“Before any decisions are made, we’re quite adamant that we want to get all the info,” Brow said following a meeting held at Eden’s Gate restaurant on Saturday to distribute those answers. “We wanted to make sure the residents of this area have as much information as possible and I think we’ve achieved that. We feel the people from our area in particular are well-prepared for the meetings.”
Meetings will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at Montague Regional High School and Thursday, Nov. 9 at the Kaylee Hall in Pooles Corner. Both meetings will be held at 7 p.m.
The communities involved in the Three Rivers amalgamation include Brudenell, Cardigan, Lorne Valley, Lower Montague, Montague and Valleyfield as well as a number of smaller communities in three unincorporated areas. Georgetown pulled out of the project in September.
The document released on Saturday, which is available online at www.yourtaxesaregoingup.com, answers more than 20 key questions received during a community meeting for Georgetown Royalty and Burnt Point residents in August.
While some of the questions and answers were specific to the two unincorporated communities, others are relevant to all communities pondering amalgamation.
During the August meeting, common concerns among residents included rising taxes and a loss of community identity through amalgamation.
The new document notes residents of the unincorporated area will see taxes raise by $0.05 per $100 of property value assessment, which would be less than $100 a year for an average household. The document states that amalgamation would provide greater voice for residents’ concerns, while also ensuring additional protection and services offered by a municipality.
It appears the option of forming a resort municipality in Georgetown Royalty and Burnt Point to gain more negotiation power in amalgamation is also now off the table.
While Brow previously presented a petition to communities minister Robert Mitchell asking him to form the resort municipality, Brow said it appears the easiest path would be to incorporate the area as a small municipality prior to amalgamation.
However, he said it would ultimately be up to the public. He also noted a petition is now circulating among unincorporated residents asking the province to hold a plebiscite on the issue.
“We’re going to see what takes place at these two meetings,” said Brow.