GUYSBOROUGH — The Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) has passed a $17-million budget for 2025-26, holding firm on taxes despite a failed push from three councillors to cut rates by 10 cents across the board.
Councillors Susan Cashin (District 6), Hudson MacLeod (District 7) and Fin Armsworthy (District 8) voted against the adoption of the budget estimates at MODG’s public session in Guysborough last week (March 26), citing concern that council had missed a rare opportunity to offer broad tax relief.
“The fairness part of it [is] that everybody would benefit,” MacLeod told The Journal in a follow-up interview. “[Everybody] should get the same benefit from the tax rate, from a decrease … You know, you shouldn’t pick and choose people, because we are one.”
The proposed cut – which MacLeod brought forward during budget deliberations and was supported by Cashin and Armsworthy – would have reduced both residential and commercial rates throughout the municipality. It was ultimately voted down by the majority of council.
In the final budget, tax rates remain unchanged from last year: 77 cents per $100 of assessment on residential/resource property and $2.74 on commercial property. In addition to these rates, a levy of $1.5145 per $100 of assessment on residential/resource property and $1.347 per $100 of assessment on commercial property in District 8 (Canso) will continue to “to defray the expenditures for additional local services of the municipality.”
In addition to rejecting the overall estimates, MacLeod voted against the capital and special municipal initiatives/projects budget. He and Armsworthy also rejected the striking of the tax rates, and municipal grants and bursaries. As well, MacLeod cast the sole dissenting vote against raising the low-income property tax exemption threshold – from $40,000 to $50,000 – which increased the rebate from $200 to $300.
“The initial motion to raise the income level and rebate was defeated,” Cashin told The Journal in an email. “Some councillors, including myself, wanted the residential and commercial tax rate decreased by 10 cents across the board, however that was voted down. After discussion on the property tax rebate, I put forward a request to change my vote in favour of the rebate, therefore putting it back on the agenda for another vote, which was carried.”
Warden Paul Long defended council’s approach to the budget, which includes $16,787,247 in revenues and expenditures, with no projected surplus or deficit. “Other municipalities have raised their tax rate, and we haven’t raised ours in probably four or five years,” he told The Journal. “When you think about it, with the cost of living going up more than two per cent every year, in a way this is actually a decrease…. We have been able to maintain the same services.”
He added: “We’re only in a good position because we’re making some good decisions, and that can go out the door pretty quickly. You have to be responsible with the residents’ or taxpayers’ money.”
The $17-million budget includes a $436,225 transfer from the municipality’s operating reserve’s accumulated surplus. Revenues will be drawn from grants in lieu of taxes, service fees, sales, other own-source income, unconditional and conditional government transfers and $7,095,477 in property taxes.
Council also approved a range of related measures, including levies for fire protection, sewer and street lighting in designated communities; full and partial property tax exemptions; the appointment of municipal auditors; and new utility rates for the Sunnyville pump house.
Municipal grants and bursaries were set at $45,000, with allocations of $25,000 to the St. Martha’s Regional Hospital Foundation, $10,000 to the Guysborough Options for Adaptive Living Society (GOALS), $2,000 to the Stan Rogers Folk Festival and $3,000 for school bursaries. Any remaining funds will be distributed upon written request and subject to approval by the MODG’s committee of the whole.
To support key community infrastructure, council also authorized the transfer of up to $707,000 from the MODG’s capital reserve fund – $500,000 for continued improvements at the Canso and Area Fitness Centre and $207,000 for Phase III of the Cutler’s Brook subdivision. The move falls under Section 99(6) of the Municipal Government Act, which permits municipalities to direct reserve funds at council’s discretion.
