Riverview property taxes hiked for first time since 2010

Property taxes are going up in the Town of Riverview for the first time since 2010 according to Mayor Ann Seamans, who said there was no way around the increase.

By raising the taxes by two cents and putting this money in the reserve fund we'll be better prepared for the future.- Riverview Mayor Ann Seamans

The 2017 operating budget was passed by town council on Monday and includes a two-cent increase on every $100 of a property's assessed value.

"What it's going to mean is a $30 increase on property taxes for homes that are assessed at $150,000," Seamans told Information Morning Moncton.

Seamans said revenue from the property tax assessment basehasdeclined for the past two years because of market conditionsand town staff have done everything possible to cut costs.

"This year we instructed staff to decrease their departments by fourper cent, which was a decrease overall of $300,000," she explained.

"We felt that in order to look forward in the years to come with our aging infrastructure that we had to do an increase this year of two cents on the tax rate."

Seamanssaid some services, such as street patching and advertising, have been reduced in the 2017 budget but forthe most part services will be maintained.

New CodiacTranspo bus for Riverview

Seamans points to improvements to six streets, a new path to connect the Hillsborough Road bike laneto the Riverfront Trail, improvements to the outdoor Lion Ken Gabbey Community Pooland a new sidewalk for Cleveland Avenue as budget highlights.

"We are also getting a newCodiacTranspobus which is much needed in the fall of 2017 and we were able to receive $50,000 from the federal government with the Canada's public transit infrastructure fund."

Seamanshopes the property tax increase will allow Riverview to take advantage of more federal and provincial funding for future projects.

"In order to do those projects [Riverview] hasto have money to put forward too the way we were going there was nothing being put in reserve and if those opportunities came up the only way we were going to be able to take advantage of that is to borrow money," Seamanssaid.

"So by raising the taxes by two cents and putting this money in the reserve fund we'll be better prepared for the future."

In addition to property taxes, Riverview residents will also be paying more for water and sewer with an increase of $20 per year, or $5 per quarter.

"We have a lot of cast iron pipes in the Town of Riverview and we have had a lot of water main breaks over the last few years which isvery costly so we will be addressing that," Seamans said.

Riverviewhas also set aside $1.7 million in the 2017 budget for a one time debt payment.