Region of Queens councillors are getting closer to finalizing their 2024/25 budget. (Pixabay)

The Region of Queens is getting closer to finalizing its budget for the 2024/25 fiscal year.

Councillors will go over the draft operating, capital and water utility budgets at their meeting Tuesday evening at 6. It will give councillors a chance to make any other changes before voting on the final package.

They’re proposing to have a special council meeting next Monday at 9 a.m. for that final vote.

Councillors are coming off a 2023/24 budget that ended up with an estimated $650,000 surplus. 

So far, the region is proposing a balanced budget for 24/25, with no increases to the base tax rate. 

Councillors and staff have worked over the past month to avoid any tax rate increases, even as they added expenditures, such as an extra $126,772 to help the region’s fire departments pay for rising costs to replace trucks.

Also on Tuesday, councillors are set to discuss crosswalk safety at the three-way stop at Main and Market streets in Liverpool, as well as speed limit reductions in certain parts of Liverpool.

The meeting is in council chambers on White Point Road, and it will also be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube.

Melissa Thiele-Smale, treasurer of the Brooklyn Recreation Committee, spoke to Queens regional council in January. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)

The Brooklyn Recreation Committee will be reimbursed $1,150 by the Region of Queens for the cost of a financial review.

In 2023, the committee was granted a community area rate of four cents per $100 of assessment to fund its operations. The rate provides $32,000 in revenue. 

Certain community groups can apply to the region to levy an area rate on their behalf. The group sets a proposed rate, which is calculated at cents per $100 of assessment or a lump sum.

An area rate request is subject to public consultation and a non-binding vote by those in the communities served by the group.

Queens is one of the only municipalities in Nova Scotia to offer an area rate to community groups to cover expenses. Other municipalities levy rates for assets owned by the municipality.

“There are many who apply different rates to different areas for different purposes. These rates are used to cover costs that are more specific to an area such as: fire protection based on fire service area, sidewalks, local recreation facilities, etc.,” Joanne Veinotte, director of corporate services, said in her Jan. 9 report to council.

“Staff could identify very few municipal units that use this method to support community groups that operate independently from the municipal units.”

The region changed its community area rate policy on Jan. 23, and the financial reporting requirements for community groups. 

Under the old policy, groups had to submit a financial review by a qualified chartered public accountant. 

In the new policy, only those generating revenue over $50,000 have to submit a financial review. Those groups generating revenue from the area rate over $100,000 must submit audited financial statements.

The Brooklyn Recreation Committee had a financial review done by Belliveau Veinotte, which cost $1,150. District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault asked council at their Jan. 9 meeting to consider reimbursing that cost.

Councillors voted on the motion at this week’s meeting. It passed by a vote of 5 to 3. 

Some councillors were concerned that the group knew it would have to pay for the financial review before the policy changed, and that taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com