By Mark Squibb/November 25, 2021
The Town of Bay Bulls is requesting an own source revenue exemption from the provincial government.
The issue was on the agenda for the November public council meeting.
For those not familiar with how source revenue is applied and what an exemption would mean, Town CAO Jennifer Aspell explained it.
“Every municipality has three main sources of revenue,” said Apsell. “They include tax revenue, municipal operating grants, and gas tax revenue. Municipalities are required to maintain a minimum per capita rate for their total tax revenue. In Bay Bulls, the per capita rate is $1,047.14 per person. So based on the 2016 census, which we’re still using, because the numbers have not been released from the 2021 census yet and won’t be until February 2022, we still have to maintain a per capita rate based on a population of 1,500.”
In a nutshell, it means that each person is Bay Bulls has to pay $1,047.14 in order for the town to meet its income tax quota demanded of them by the provincial government.
Apsell said that staff did some further research and formulated a list of communities along the Northeast Avalon comparing own source revenue rates.
Bay Bulls was near the top.
“There are only three that are higher than us, and one is a fairly large community with over 20,000 people,” said Aspell.
By way of example, Aspell noted that a neighboring community, which she did not identify, has a per capita rate of about$758 per person.
“Council had wanted this information in preparation for potentially requesting ministerial approval for an exemption, either for the 2022 tax year or on a go-forward basis,” Aspell concluded.
Councilor Jason Sullivan didn’t mince words when making the motion.
“I would make the motion that we have the Town Manager prepare an argument to send to Municipal Affairs, or whatever department came out with this outlandish thing that they’ve created here, so that we can be adjusted and treated fairly, compared to other towns of our size.”
Councilor Shannon O’ Driscoll seconded the motion.
“It doesn’t seem right,” said Sullivan. “It’s crazy, what they have done, it doesn’t make any sense. And it’s forcing us to tax people harder than we should. These towns provide water and sewer, and stuff like that, and we don’t have any of that, and here we are being mandated to pay.”
Aspell added the data compiled and presented to council was acquired by finding the population from the census report and then determining the tax revenue based on each municipality’s budget.
“So, these are estimates, but I would say that they’re very close,” said Aspell.
Sullivan complimented Aspell on the work, which was presented in a graph. He said any residents who wished to see the information should request it.
Apsell however, when asked for the information, told the Irish Loop Post that the town would not be releasing the document, as it was not a formal document but estimates presented to council for information purposes only. Apsell said that it would be in the town’s best interest to not release the document, and the paper’s best interest to not print any part of the document, as the numbers were just estimates and may not be one hundred per cent accurate.
Council, meanwhile, unanimously approved the motion to request an exemption from having to levy its taxes at the provincially-mandated rate.
The neighboring town of Witless Bay requested an exemption from the own source revenue mandate in 2020 on similar grounds.
In 2021, that town received the exemption on a conditional approval. Witless Bay council held tax rates steady on the expectation that government would approve the request.
Assistant Town Clerk Barbara Harrigan confirmed that government granted that approval in April.
