MONCTON – After three days of tough deliberations, Moncton councillors passed the 2015 city budget on Monday.
The budget includes a $1.6-million withdrawal from reserves, about $500,000 in cuts and $300,000 in salary slippage by not hiring as quickly as before.
Coun. Brian Hicks was the lone dissenting vote on the motion to accept the budget. He said he could not support a budget that allocated funds to a downtown events centre when, according to him, the city doesn’t know if the project will go ahead.
“I don’t think with the numbers that we’ve been shown over the last few days, we’re in a position to even meet our basic needs over the next few years without the tax rate going up substantially,” he said.
READ MORE: Provincial funding for Moncton events centre uncertain
City manager Jacques Dubé had told council last Thursday the budget was allocated the way it was because city staff received clear instructions from council that the downtown centre was going ahead.
Monday’s meeting included votes on four motions that had been discussed during earlier deliberations.
The first was a motion to put $125,000 in contingency for poverty reduction. The debate around the motion quickly became a discussion on the province’s responsibilities.
“I fear that we’re assuming more and more responsibilities that are within the jurisdiction of the provincial government,” Coun. Pierre Boudreau told council, before adding that it was the reason he would be voting against the motion. It followed his earlier comments during discussions about the reserves, when he said cities in the province did not have the same rights to tax as other parts in Canada.
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“The municipalities act in New Brunswick has to change,” said Boudreau. “Other cities across Canada, aside from their tax rate and much higher assessment of their homes, benefit from the powers of taxation that we are denied as cities.”
All four motions eventually passed.
One motion targeted transit ridership after Codiac Transpo earned $400,000 less from fares in 2014 than the city expected. The plan will take $40,000 from transit fuel reserves to fund a marketing campaign.
Another motion gave $17,000 in one-time funding to the Assumption Cathedral, which is trying to build a community centre similar to the Peace Centre.
The final motion focused on procedural wrangling that moved $100,000 from one budget to another.
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