Excerpt from NSEF message to candidates: "What can you do as mayor [or councillor] of the CBRM to address the shortfall of funding?
First you could advocate for an inquiry into equalization by the province.
You might also rally the citizens as their mayor, to protest the provincial government.
You might consider leading the charge with a human rights complaint against the provincial government on behalf of the citizens of the CBRM.
Demand to know where the transfer is being spent within the province.
You might also have your own thoughts on what can be done to achieve fairness for the CBRM with regards to equalization.
We look forward to your comment and thoughts on this important issue as the CBRM continues to struggle financially while passing the financial burden on to the already overtaxed residents."
My reply to the Nova Scotians for Equalization Fairness Questions for CBRM Candidates:
I agree with the NSEF that CBRM is drastically underfunded by Federal and Provincial governments.
I'll be honest, I can't see a human rights complaint being successful, especially given how our current Council essentially re-gifted the 15mil top-up from the Province in 2022 to Loblaws, Walmart, and back to the Feds and Province (through lost property tax revenue on their properties). This move seriously damaged the Provinces trust in the competency of our Municipal leaders to effectively use any funding increases. Minister John Lohr wrote an op-ed in the CB Post. I've read earlier criticism of Cecil Clarke more-or-less decline equalization offers when he was mayor.
CBRM is being led by Council members who don't take initiative to apply for available funding from the other levels of government and who vote on a 5% across the board tax cut (took 12 years of hikes to climb that amount) without adequate information to make an informed choice. Councillor Bruckschwaiger didn't even request staff prepare a budget to go with his proposal and yet 8 of 12 (Parsons was absent) voted in favour of the tax cut.
This took funding that staff had budget for a 1.5% across the board tax cut and an increase in the low income property tax credit (which would have amounted to 4-5% tax decrease for the most vulnerable home owners). It also put money back in the pockets of big corporations who don't even pay their staff a living wage and don't keep the money local.
Instead of 1mil for roads, 3mil for the library, 2mil for C200, 9mil for operational budget shortfalls, and 271k for 'service delivery modernization' (not fully sure what that means). Big corporations benefitted the most from those choices.
Myself, I would have suggested asking staff to investigate the feasibility of introducing a Local Business property tax credit. I'd love anything that would help offset challenges for locals to invest vs Loblaws.*
Until we have municipal leadership that puts the citizens first and is actually in touch with the realities of the average person in CBRM, there's no chance a human rights complaint would be taken seriously in my view. I'm not sure about you all but myself, even when working full time on an Alberta salary, my annual income was a few thousand less than Councils part-time salary ($49,000) and I think all of them have a full-time job elsewhere. My employment experience is mainly in front-line disability services work and education.. doing care work and education assistant. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 2024 Living Wage Report showed workers in Cape Breton need $24/hour to live with their basic needs met. Minimum wage is nearly $9 less than that.
The folks who voted for that sewer tax change and to add it to service users obviously are not the working poor. The bit they removed from property tax and added with the sewer service charges, no landlord I ever had would have passed those savings onto me but my water bill would have increased.
Our Council has not done enough to find revenue streams for CBRM other than property taxes. I see an opportunity for CBRM in using Federal (and Provincial) grant funds to apply for community solar farms and use it as a CBRM owned resource or shared between CBRM and the neighbourhood. See info here on other NS municipality doing this for decades. The Provincial Community Solar Program announced this spring can help off-set costs.*
If and when CBRM is ever led by Municipal Leaders who govern well, maybe then a human rights complaint could be an option. It's hard to argue its all on the Province and Feds when Council is how it is. Regardless of that though, I think the fact that your group has been organizing and advocating for Cape Breton Island for as long as it has, government officials ought to make the time to discuss with you. I don't need to agree on your approach to agree your group deserves to be listened to by Provincial leadership.
Thank you to you and your membership for your commitment to CBRM and holding our governments accountable!
Krys Maher, Candidate for District 12 Notes/ corrections:
I did hear back from staff on the feasibility of a tax credit for local business in the time since replying to the NSEF questions. This is outside of the scope of municipal say over taxes and would require Provincial advocacy and buy-in to work.
In my initial reply, I accidentally said the community solar grant was a Federal, not Provincial program. There are related federal tax incentives though.
Video from the NSEF website that addresses some of the group's concerns:
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