Edmundston adopts municipal budget

EDMUNDSTON, New Brunswick — Edmundston City Council adopted at a public meeting on Nov. 3 the operating budgets for the coming year.

The fact that Edmundston continues to maintain a tax rate that is among the lowest in the province in its category, while maintaining an excellent level of service, is a source of satisfaction for Council members. The tax rate for the City of Edmundston remains fixed at $1.6350 per hundred dollars of assessment for the year 2021.

“For an eighth year, we are presenting a balanced budget with no property tax increases. We are also very pleased to confirm the downward trend in our debt ratio, which now stands at 12.6 percent. It has been in constant decline for the past eight years thanks to rigorous control of expenses, our continuous improvement program, and good debt management planning,” Edmundston Mayor Cyrille Simard said.

“Of course, the year 2020 had its share of financial challenges due to the pandemic. That’s why Council agrees to a withdrawal from the reserve fund, if necessary, which allows us to avoid an increase in the tax rate. We’re still fortunate in Edmundston to be in an excellent financial situation,” Simard said.

The last general increase was in 2013. Some sectors, for their part, were influenced upward by the 2014 Equalization program, which brought all sectors of the municipality to the same tax rate.

The City of Edmundston has a net budget of $29,355,765.

Public utilities

The water and sewerage rate also remains one of the lowest in the province and will not increase in 2021. The total budget for the Water and Sewer Fund is $6,751,124. The debt ratio for this utility has gone down from 16.1 percent to 15.6 percent in the past year.

Edmundston Energy’s total budget is $34,988,541, very similar to last year’s. Edmundston Energy has not budgeted a rate increase for 2021, but it should be noted that any increase from NB Power would result in an increase in Edmundston. Edmundston Energy’s debt ratio is now 10.3 percent for 2021.

“Through good planning and responsible management, Edmundston’s budgets fully respect our vision of providing quality services to the population, maintaining infrastructure, facilities and equipment in good condition, and investing strategically in our development,” concluded Mayor Simard.

The full presentation of the budgets (in French) can be consulted and downloaded by CLICKING HERE.