Common Council hasn’t decided yet what its priorities should be over its term but Councillor Gary Sullivan would like to see a plan in place to reduce the city’s tax rate starting with a decrease of a cent next year.
Sullivan maintains a sustained plan to reduce the tax rate would encourage more people to live in Saint John which would grow the tax base. If that occurs, Sullivan says it would offset the 675 thousand dollars that a one cent reduction in the tax rate represents.
Sullivan would also like to see a cap on borrowing for big capital projects. The Finance Committee, chaired by Councillor David Merrithew, will be making that recommendation to Common Council.
The city will be borrowing 48 million dollars for construction of the new water plant and rate payers will have to pick that up over 30 years.
