Future of Rural Municipality of St. Nicholas up for discussion
The Rural Municipality of St. Nicholas is considering a potentially steep increase in its tax rate in a bid to maintain its independence.
The community, which has about 211 residents, held a public meeting Sept. 18 to discuss its future.
Acting Mayor Jason Woodbury said council called the meeting because, due to changes mandated in the new Municipalities Act, St. Nicholas will no longer be able to sustain itself in a few years.
The new act requires municipalities to, among other things, have an office open to the public for at least 20 hours per week. They have four years to comply with the requirement.
“We basically just sustain ourselves,” said Woodbury. “Once we pay our fire dues and keep our maintenance up at the community centre, there’s no extra funds left.”
About 50 people atended the meeting and listened as council put forward three potential options: dissolving the municipality and becoming an unincorporated area; talking to a neighbouring municipality about a potential amalgamation or increasing the current property tax rates to a point where the municipality could meet the minimum standards of the new act.
Woodbury said the general consensus was that residents wanted to further examine the latter option and try to remain independent.
A second meeting is Oct. 9, at 7 p.m., at the community hall. Council and the municipality’s CAO plan to have the estimates done in time for the meeting. Communities Minister Richard Brown and local MLA Sonny Gallant are scheduled to attend.