Highway tolls for commuters to Saint John rejected by province
New information is emerging about last-minute talks over the past month between the Progressive Conservative government and the City of Saint John, as municipal officials tried to win a better deal on fiscal reforms.
Council voted 7-3 to approve the package of reforms, even though it was largely unchanged from a previous version and fell well short of what many with the city had been looking for.
City officials say the municipality faces $11 million to $12 million in cuts to services if new revenue sources aren't found by 2021.
Two new key reform proposals advanced by the city were both rejected by the provincial government during those recent talks, Local Government Minister Jeff Carr confirmed Tuesday. The proposals were:
A plan to place highway tolls on provincially owned roads leading into the city.
Allowing the municipality to keep the province's portion of property tax collected from heavy industry.
Carr said the highway toll proposal would have seen tolls set up on six to eight roads leading into the city from outlying communities.
It was rejected in part, he said, because not all councillors were in favour.
"Council was split and we just didn't believe the tolls will work long term for the City of Saint John."
At least 2 councillors opposed
Coun. Blake Armstrong and Deputy Mayor Shirley McAlary have both have spoken against the idea of tolls. McAlary said road tolls would only hurt city retailers and other business sectors.
She prefers adopting a poll tax instead.
That would see a special levy added to the tax bills of property owners, people living in nearby suburban communities and local service districts.
"To me that's more fair, and then you only look at it once a year," McAlary said. "So if you're going to hate Saint John, you only hate them when you're paying for that. You don't hate them 365 days of the year."
Province can't afford revenue loss
Regarding the issue of property tax revenues, Carr said Service New Brunswick records show the government would be giving up $16 million if the industrial portion were turned over to the city, and a total of $80 milllion provincewide.
"If we give to Saint John, then we have to give all the other municipalities the same consideration," Carr said. "And we just don't have that much money that we can lift and move over in one specific time."
Carr said a city pitch to keep all the traffic-ticket revenue collected in Saint John was rejected for the same reason.
The government did agree to last-minute changes to the language on three municipal reform proposals.
One will look at changes to the binding arbitration process for police and firefighters, another will make it easier for the city to collect surpluses from Saint John Energy, and a third changes the makeup of a regional task force of provincial and local government officials.
