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| (LR) Candidates Phil Zamora, Bill Preston, Jeff Starratt, and moderator Brian Bishop. |
The fear that the dissolution of the town would result in a sharp rise in taxes and the realization that the Grant Thornton Report was based on assumptions dominated the public meeting with Bill Preston, Jeff Starratt, and Phil Zamora. The meeting held at the Hantsport School on October 8. The three are running in the by-election for councillor made necessary after former Councillor Shannon Cunningham moved out of town. Brian stated that he did not recall such a divisive issue facing voters.
The four had earlier determined the format of the meeting. It included questions from Hantsport residents. Town councillors represent only the town residents.
Each of the candidates spoke for six minutes. Jeff favours dissolving the town and joining with West Hants. Bill encourages village status and joining Kings County. Phil favours maintaining town status and utilizing a 0 based budget.
Amy Melmock, the first speaker and new resident, stated she's "scared" and "frightened" by the information in the report. "The issue of taxes keeps me awake at night." Many others echoed her concerns.
Ninety people attended the meeting. Many echoed Amy's concern about the prospect of dramatic increases in their property taxes.
Phil outlined 0 based budget. Each department would start with 0 in their budget and would add only what they needed. Currently, most departments seem to start with their budget from the previous year and add an amount to that.
Bill stated he does not want to work for dissolution. He wants to work to provide an objective and fresh view point on the town's future. He is concerned that by becoming a community, Hantsport will become invisible.
Jeff declared that the report by Grant Thornton illustrated that a reasonable tax rate and improvements to infrastructure will result.
By the end of the meeting, the conclusion was that the report was based on assumptions.
Paul Price provided the sound. Principal Colin Chase provided the auditorium at no charge. A free will collection covered expenses and a donation of $51 to the school.
Heather,
ReplyDeleteLets clarify your assumption based the report being "based on assumptions". I believe it would make the public feel better it one would share that the models are possible if the neighboring municipality agrees to the report. The Grant Thornton report is comprised of numbers obtained through consultation with all parties and not just pulled out of the sky. Therefore, your statement on assptions makes it sound like they're slander and not accurate. If so many people are scared of drastic increases in taxes then these individuals must have some trust in what the report is saying. Also it would be nice to include the 8 assumptions that guided the report that Joe Foy stated earlier. The numbers may not be exact but the general theme shows a pretty accurate picture. As a person that reviewed the studies in depth I believe they share some very important assumptions that people should take into consideration when voting.
One must remember not everyone has access to the information that Jeff has, not everyone can go on a computer and navigate through the reports,many people do not have a computer.There are different people stating different facts and making decisions on those facts and as yet all the facts and information has not been gathered. Everyone is in a campaign mode and not just the candidates. I'm making an assumption either right or wrong . You have made an assumption and Jeff has as well ,I guess we have to just assume one is right and one is wrong.
DeleteOn another note Brian Bishop did an excellent job as the moderator and the sound system by Mr Price was also good, both should be thanked for their efforts it was outstanding as was the coverage by yourself and Ashley
Delete.
Bill