{"id":44254,"date":"2024-04-15T12:41:26","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T15:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=44254"},"modified":"2024-04-15T12:41:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T15:41:26","slug":"approved-east-hants-budget-sees-tax-rate-decrease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=44254","title":{"rendered":"Approved East Hants budget sees tax rate decrease"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;115&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;78&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ELMSDALE:<\/strong> Residents in the Municipality of East Hants (MEH) could see a slight general tax rate reduction after councillors approved the 2024\/2025 budget at the end of March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, while there may be a decrease in the tax rate, that does not necessarily mean a reduction in the tax bill residents receive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The five-year Capital Budget and the water utility operating budgets were passed in February 2024. These new budgets came into effect on April 1, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a release, MEH said the overall municipal operating budget is $47.0 million for the upcoming fiscal year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2024\/2025 Operating Budget was passed at the regular meeting of Council on March 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;87&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate group=&#8221;2&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Warden Elanor Roulston said the municipality&#8217;s budget demonstrates a commitment to fiscal responsibility while addressing the diverse needs of our communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Council has worked hard to pass a budget which allows us to continue providing the services our residents rely on, ensuring capital investments support the needs of our municipality and continuing to manage growth in a fiscally responsible manner,\u201d said Roulston. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Accomplishing this while maintaining an affordable tax rate for our residents is truly a result of the combined efforts of staff and council. I thank both for their hard work and dedication.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wade Tattrie, Director of Finance for the Municipality, explained it further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Any home in the CAP program that had been assessed in 2023 at $300,000 could see an increase in 2024 assessment to as high as $309,600,&#8221; said Tattrie. &#8220;This, coupled with a decrease in the general tax rate, means the general tax bill increase would be 1.77%, or $46.80 for the year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;67&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;111&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Key highlights of the approved budget include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A decrease in the general residential tax rate from $0.81 to $0.80 per $100 of property assessment (a<br \/>1.2% reduction)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The final year of a four-year plan to increase the RCMP officer compliment from 23 to 28 officers and<br \/>add two detachment assistants. This has enabled 24-hour policing for our communities<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Introduction of Growth Management Grants tailored to the needs of each district of the municipality<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Preparing plans for the growth of our community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>o Preparing a Secondary Planning Strategy and related Ground Water Study for Mount Uniacke<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>o Preparing a Secondary Planning Strategy for the Lantz Growth Reserve Area prior to the<br \/>development of those lands<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>o Preparing a flood risk mitigation plan for Paley Brook<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>o Preparing a water rate review, water outflow study, and a sludge management plan for the<br \/>Lantz wastewater lagoon<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>o Developing a Municipal Housing Strategy<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>o Looking at implementing transit as a municipal service<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;92&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;190&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This budget also allocates a substantial investment in our infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Operational Business Plan and Five-Year Capital Budgets list ongoing initiatives that support connectivity and growth in our area for 2024-2025. Some of these projects include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"2025\">\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>A Rising Tide Shore marketing initiative that places billboards and directional signage to showcase<br \/>the diverse tourism experiences along Highway 215<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New playground planning and development for Centre Rawdon, Lakelands, Charles Drive (Uniacke)<br \/>and Kiln Creek, Lantz<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Transportation initiatives related to increasing streetlights throughout Mount Uniacke, traffic calming<br \/>initiatives, design of Shubenacadie village core parking and Corridor sidewalk renewal<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The multi-year build out of the active transportation route from Lantz to Elmsdale. The key project<br \/>for 2024 is a connection from Hwy 214 in Elmsdale to the river crossing to Kiln Creek in Lantz<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wastewater collection upgrades in Lantz and Elmsdale, including obtaining easements, force main<br \/>construction and multiple lift station upgrades<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Future planning for and expansion of municipal business parks in Uniacke and Elmsdale<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2024-2025 budget prioritizes essential services, infrastructure and community development projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To understand the changes to the various tax rates and the details of the full business plan and capital budget<br \/>visit easthants.ca\/budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;169&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;188&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;115&#8243;] [adrotate banner=&#8221;78&#8243;] ELMSDALE: Residents in the Municipality of East Hants (MEH) could see a slight general tax rate reduction after councillors approved the 2024\/2025 budget at the end of March. However, while there may be a decrease in the tax rate, that does not necessarily mean a reduction in the tax bill residents [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[965,957],"tags":[6247,196,986,6513,315,48,6514],"class_list":["post-44254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-hants","category-news","tag-budget-2024","tag-east-hants","tag-elmsdale","tag-general-tax-rate","tag-mount-uniacke","tag-n-s","tag-tax-rate-reduction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}