{"id":8637,"date":"2025-04-30T18:49:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T21:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=8637"},"modified":"2025-04-30T18:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T21:50:10","slug":"region-of-queens-has-surplus-in-hand-as-it-looks-at-relief-for-low-income-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/04\/30\/region-of-queens-has-surplus-in-hand-as-it-looks-at-relief-for-low-income-residents\/","title":{"rendered":"Region of Queens has surplus in hand as it considers relief for low-income residents"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian, right, wraps up the municipality’s second budget meeting on Monday night. Also pictured is interim CAO Dan McDougall. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)<\/p><\/div>\n

Region of Queens councillors began their 2025\/26 budget discussions with some money in the bank from 2024\/25, as they look to make life a little easier for people on low or fixed incomes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Scott Christian said the region has a surplus in the million-dollar range. But he said it\u2019s difficult to know for sure until finance staff crunch the final numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, council began budget deliberations with a $650,000 surplus from 2023\/24. Nova Scotia municipalities are not allowed to run an operating budget deficit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Councillors are following a different process this year. While the meetings are public, residents don\u2019t have access to draft budget documents as they did in last year\u2019s discussions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think in past years, there was a lot of emphasis on starting with a tax rate and then working down or whittling away at that or as you add things, the tax rate implications,\u201d Christian told QCCR.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that this year we wanted to focus on funding the right things, identifying what are going to be appropriate things to include in the capital investment plan, and then get that operating budget right. \u2029So I think it was a conscious decision but that was staff-driven that they thought that let\u2019s try to get it right, try to set the appropriate budget given what the needs of the community are, and then look at it on balance with revenue and see what the implications are for the ratepayer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In their second public budget meeting earlier this week, councillors discussed boosting the low-income property tax exemption and helping the Queens County Food Bank with its rent.<\/span><\/p>\n

They also found out that the region has about $325,000 left over from the renovations to the new Thomas H. Raddall Library space. Councillors had approved up to $1.26 million for that work.<\/span><\/p>\n

And revenue at Queens Place Emera Centre is forecasted to be down this year because of less advertising and sponsorship and no major full-facility rentals planned to March 31, 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heading into 2025\/26, the region expects to get $20.5 million in property tax revenue, an increase of $900,000, based on the current base tax rate of $1.04 per $100 of assessment.<\/span><\/p>\n

That increase is mostly due to higher property assessments, which rose by $86.9 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

Director of corporate services Joanne Veinotte took councillors through the region\u2019s preliminary operating budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a chance for councillors to request changes, more information or additional funding.<\/span><\/p>\n

Councillors like District 4 representative Vicki Amirault want the low-income property tax exemption increased to give more relief potentially to more people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to up the income level,” she told councillors. “\u2029I think we should up it $5,000 on each stage there, and up the rebate as well. I think it would be very helpful to our residents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, the region increased<\/a> the maximum income threshold to $35,000. Those in the lowest income range, up to $25,000, can get a $400 break on their taxes. Those in the top group can apply for up to $300 in relief.<\/span><\/p>\n

Veinotte said she would report back to councillors on what relief the region could offer depending on how much more money councillors devote to the program.<\/span><\/p>\n

District 3 Coun. Courtney Wentzell said he wants council to have a serious look at the Mount Pleasant water and wastewater extension<\/a>. The region has budgeted $10.8 million toward the $21-million project. The Nova Scotia government is covering the rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

The project would extend municipal water and sewer access to two new private housing developments in Liverpool. It would also improve existing infrastructure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe extension to Mount Pleasant boggles my mind when we have so much infrastructure need, including sidewalks \u2026 but not just that, with the upgrades needed in water on the west side of town, up till Union Street, I’m really having some reservations about the extension at all,” Wentzell said. <\/span><\/p>\n

“And I’m speaking from the heart. I’m sorry if that upsets some people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian said after the meeting that councillors want to understand what exactly is involved in that project and potentially look for ways to lower the municipality\u2019s share of the cost.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis council’s not OK with incurring a huge amount of debt that could potentially be paid for by the general ratepayer and\/or utilizing reserves that have been accumulated from the general ratepayer to pay for that service extension. And we currently don’t have any federal monies that are committed to that project. I think that that’s problematic. What is the plan with service extension? What impacts does that have on preparing us for future growth but also what impacts does it have, attending to known and foreseeable issues associated with the existing infrastructure for our utilities?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Councillors will resume budget talks on Tues., May 6 at 6 p.m. at council chambers on White Point Road.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/budgettalksapr3025.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Region of Queens councillors began their 2025\/26 budget discussions with some money in the bank from 2024\/25, as they look to make life a little easier for people on low or fixed incomes. Mayor Scott Christian said the region has a surplus in the million-dollar range. But he said it\u2019s difficult to know for sure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[3028,1245,2595,1804,1735,1246,49,24,226,96],"class_list":["post-8637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-2025-26-budget","tag-budget","tag-courtney-wentzell","tag-finance","tag-joanne-veinotte","tag-municipal-budget","tag-queens-county","tag-region-of-queens","tag-scott-christian","tag-vicki-amirault"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8637"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8641,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8637\/revisions\/8641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}