Cape Breton regional council's goals for this term

Newly elected and returning Cape Breton Regional Municipality councillors met for the first time Tuesday since the Oct. 15 election and discussed their priorities for the next four years.

The focus of the conversation was taxes, infrastructure, funding formulas and transparency.

1) Taxes

Several councillors said their ears were blistered on the campaign trail by constituents who felt taxes were too high and the level of services too low. 

Mayor Cecil Clarke said under the province's property tax cap system the municipality has little control over taxes. The cap limits increases in property taxes, but the cap disappears when a house is sold.

"The situation we are finding ourselves in now is people can't sell homes and people can't build homes," said Clarke.

"The tax system is indeed broken. The cap is now creating severe winners in one case and severe losers rather than a fair system across the board."

Clarke wants a new system phased in but is not optimistic that will happen before the next provincial election.

2) Infrastructure

The councillor for Glace Bay, George MacDonald, said the public works department told him his district has "the worst infrastructure in the CBRM." 

He's not the only one who wants improvements. Several councillors said better roads are a priority.

Councillors in districts that suffered extreme flooding are getting complaints from people saying the municipal systems can't handle large amounts of water.

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Public works director Wayne MacDonald said CBRM waste-water systems are built to approved standards and the Thanksgiving Day rainfall was a once-in-a-lifetime event that any system would have trouble handling.

3) Unfair funding formulas

Councillors said while it's not always popular to talk about unfair equalization payments, it's a problem that can't be ignored.

"This is part of a broader challenge we have," said Clarke. "It's part of the economic realities of this community. It ties into not only child poverty in some homes but we actually have seniors poverty." 

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The mayor wants the federal government and provincial governments to recognize the economic realities in Cape Breton when providing funding.

4) Transparency

A number of councillors said they support increased transparency when it comes to the financial dealings of the municipality and the salaries and expenses it pays.

Some councillors had questions about spending related to developing Sydney's port and want more details on the finances of the Port of Sydney Development Corporation.

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Clarke promised to post more financial information on salaries and expense claims on the CBRM website. 

He said that will include the salaries and expense claims of his personal staff, an adviser and a public relations person.

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