The mayor of the Town of Antigonish says she’s very proud of their latest budget.
Councillors unanimously passed their 2018-2019 fiscal plan at a special meeting Thursday night.
It includes a three-cent increase to both the residential and commercial tax rates.
Laurie Boucher, the town’s mayor, tells The Hawk the budget proves they’re listening.
“There’s a lot of things in there for the residents,” she says. “You can see that the things that are in there (show) that we’re listening closely to our citizens (and) listening to some of the things that were found by the people that attended our (Engage Antigonish) sessions.”
Boucher says she doesn’t anticipate any backlash because of the hike.
“We still (have) the lowest taxes in the town across Nova Scotia by quite a bit,” she says. “Tax-debt ratio is still below average across the province as well; I did talk to some people in the business sector and they’re very pleased with what we’re going to do with the money.”
Boucher says part of the reason for the tax increase is to fund a new position to address two areas that have been lacking in town hall.
She says their new marketing and communications role will be created in the coming months.