‘It doesn’t add up’: Common ground for Saint John Regional Ice Strategy hard to find

A representative for the Kingston Local Service District (LSDs) says that a proposal to share arena costs across the Greater Saint John region places a disproportionate burden on the area’s LSDs.

“No, it doesn’t add up. It just seems to be too much to ask,” said Glen Baxter.

“The figures we have that have been gathered over the past few months show that there are 34 users of the Saint John area facilities. So based on that and if we work that through that would $2,470 per user.”

On Monday a meeting of the Fundy Regional Service Commission voted down a recommendation from a year-long working group that would see a levy of up to three cents imposed on LSDs to help cover costs in the region’s arenas.

Baxter says the increase in property tax would work out to about $30 per $100,000 of assessment, which in Kingston, that has a tax base of about $291 million, would mean an tax increase of $87,300.

“For some people it’s fine to say, you know, it’s only $30 per $100,000 or if your house is $200,000 another $60 per year,” he said.

“But that’s $60 from everyone. It’s from the person next door who’s living on social assistance or on old age pension with a supplement so I think we need to consider all that.”

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Saint John’s Mayor Don Darling joined the LSDs in voting against the recommendation, which also called for a consultant to be hired to look at a formula for how costs could be shared between the municipalities.

“The result of the latest recommendation, essentially in my view, or our view as a council, wasn’t going to be fair. It really said hey, local service districts, you need to pay up but … the formula wasn’t complete,” he said.

Darling later proposed a motion that the commission agree in principle to implement a cost sharing formula based on usage which failed to gain any traction.

Rothesay Mayor Nancy Grant told Global News that support for the motion would be akin to signing a blank cheque, but Darling argues that without agreeing on the basic principle it’s pointless to continue talking about a cost sharing strategy.

“That’s what we agreed to a year ago and a year later we still have not agreed on basic principles and a basic formula,” he said.

“So it’s about being great stewards of tax payer’s money, not hiring another consultant, not spending many more months working only to arrive a spot where nobody agrees on the formula.”

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According to Saint John, a third of all arena users live in the surrounding region and with only a 70 per cent usage rate, arena’s are expensive to run.

Grant says she wants to see more usage data for the region before deciding on a formula, yet Darling “wanted to sign before we have the information.”

On Monday night Saint John Council decided it will implement non-resident fees should a deal not be reach by May 1. The next meeting of the commission is in late April.