Municipal officials in Richmond Co. have held the line on their tax rates.
Councillors maintained their residential rate of $0.80/$100 of assessment and commercial rate of $2.10/$100 of assessment at a special meeting Monday night.
Jason MacLean, the councillor for District 5 and a former warden of the municipality, voted against the 2020-21 budget.
After the meeting, Brian Marchand, Richmond Co.’s current warden, said councillors directed staff members to do what they needed to maintain rates.
Marchand said the COVID-19 pandemic made that even more important, given the extra pressure on members of vulnerable groups.
“There’s a lot of people that are affected with what’s going on with COVID-19,” he said. “A lot of seniors are affected, with increased pricing in many things that they use and need.”
Marchand said they’re grateful for the emergency loans offered by their provincial counterparts in the face of COVID-19, but they were able to balance the budget without using them.
