The mayor of Antigonish says town officials will have to collect taxes at some point.
Laurie Boucher says they haven’t taken a tax increase off the table as part of their budget deliberations.
She says they’re doing what they can to support residents and business owners through COVID-19, but they need tax revenue to continue to provide essential municipal services.
Boucher tells The Hawk she knows a tax increase would be hard on their ratepayers.
“At the end of the day, we have to be able to deliver our municipal services,” she says. “The Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities right now is working with the province to work out some kind of a deal, but they’re not going to give us money.”
Boucher says they may get a deferral on their provincial contributions for things such as RCMP services, but they will have to pay sooner or later, and the only way for them to get that money is through taxes.
She says a tax increase depends on necessary capital projects, as well as how measures to limit the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and households work.
