Saint John council has approved the city’s 2025 budget, but not everyone was on board.
The $194-million budget passed by a vote of 6-3 during Monday’s regular council meeting.
Included in the budget is a three-cent tax cut, from $1.58 per $100 of assessed value to $1.55.
Coun. Joanna Killen, one of the three dissenting votes, said she felt the tax cut should have been larger.
“With the money going towards the rink into reserves, for every cent is $1 million, there’s at least two of those three cents that I feel we could be affording to the citizens of Saint John,” said Killen.
The councillor was referring to $3 million transferred into reserves for a new multipurpose recreation facility on the city’s east side.
Coun. Brent Harris also raised concerns about the money that is being set aside for the recreation facility.
“I don’t think putting $3 million away a year for a multiplex is the best use of our money at this moment. I think we have to put some money away, I think $500,000 this year could be a target,” he said.
Harris said he wanted to see more money put toward funding community centres in the city.
Paula Radwan, the third councillor to vote against the budget, believed the tax rate should be cut by five cents instead of three.
Despite the tax cut, the average residential property owner will still see their tax bill rise by more than five per cent due to higher property assessments.
That is compared to a 3.6 per cent increase for non-residential property owners and a 0.44 per cent increase for heavy industrial properties.
The city has long called on the province for more flexibility to set tax rates that would distribute rising costs equally.
Municipalities can currently use a sliding scale and set non-residential rates between 1.4 and 1.7 times the residential rate.
Saint John currently has its multiplier set at 1.7 for commercial and heavy industrial classes. It wants higher limits with the sliding scale or for it to be removed entirely.
Budget highlights
Overall expenses are up nearly $6.6 million in 2025, an increase of about 3.5 per cent compared to the current year.
Wages and benefits account for about one-third of the increase at nearly $2.4 million. There is also an additional $2.8 million for the Housing Accelerator Fund.
Other increases include $502,000 for recreation programming, $100,000 in mowing and street cleaning and $823,000 for parks and opens spaces, which is largely attributed to the new Ahtoli-maqahamok space along the waterfront.
Public safety services — which include police, fire, emergency management and the Public Safety Communications Centre — will see an increase of nearly $2.4 million to $64.4 million.
The increase, said city staff, is largely due inflationary pressures and the anticipated hiring of four additional police officers.
The Saint John Transit Commission will receive an extra $555,000 while fiscal charges related to debt and interest payments will drop by $1.2 million.
Council also voted to use money from the community reserves to fund additional bylaw enforcement officers as part of a three-year pilot program as well as the Saint John City Market strategic plan.
