Your property taxes are not safe
Good morning from the Fundy shore — the tide's turning, and so is New Brunswick. Let's get into it.
I'll tell you what, there are some things you just expect a city council to handle, right? Like, you pick your mayor, you pick your councillors, and they figure out how to pay for the potholes on King Street or keep Rockwood Park looking sharp. But now, it sounds like the provincial government wants to tell Saint John exactly how much we can hike our property taxes, and every other municipality in New Brunswick too. It's like your parents telling you how much allowance you're allowed to ask for, even when you’re grown and paying your own bills.
This isn't just about some dry number on a spreadsheet; this is about local control, eh? Think about it: our city has specific needs. Maybe it's replacing some crumbling infrastructure uptown, or finding a way to deal with the constant salt and thaw cycles on our roads. If Fredericton or Moncton has different needs, should the province be dictating the same limits for everyone? NB Power's already making noise about solar power not being sustainable and wanting to shift costs, and we just approved a new 500-megawatt gas plant out in the southeast. All these big decisions have ripple effects, and local government needs flexibility to respond.
### What This Means for Saint John
* **Less Local Control:** Our elected officials might have less say in balancing the city's budget. * **Impact on Services:** If the city can't raise enough revenue, things like road repairs, snow removal, or even our beloved City Market could feel the pinch. * **Unique Challenges:** Saint John, with its steep hills and coastal weather, has unique infrastructure demands compared to, say, a more inland community. A one-size-fits-all approach just doesn't make sense down here by the harbour.
The provincial government says this is all about lowering bills for residents, which, fair enough, everyone wants lower bills. But taking away the power from the folks who know our city best, who walk these streets and see the issues firsthand? I don't know if that's the way to go. It feels like another layer of bureaucracy trying to manage us from afar, and that never quite lands right here on the Fundy shore.
Caleb Duguay-Firth, MiTL Sports Desk, Saint John.
You know, the morning crew always has the best take on these kinds of things—tune in live at mornings.live.