Fixing bridges, road paving in Cartier’s plans

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This article was published 15/05/2020 (2283 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cartier reeve Dale Fossay said council had two main goals when working on the 2020-21 financial plan: to keep tax rates about the same for homeowners and to budget for two main projects.

“We accomplished that,” he said.

Most homeowners in Cartier’s village of Elie will see a decrease when they open their 2020 tax bills and compare them to the 2019 bills.

For an Elie home assessed at $339,800, the municipal tax and education tax levied by Prairie Rose School Division are both lower for an overall reduction of $211.

For a home assessed at $260,300 in Starbuck, the 2020 tax bill will be $71 less than in 2019 thanks to a drop in education and municipal taxes.

The owner of 160 acres of farmland near Starbuck assessed at $705,500 will see an overall drop of $28 for 2020 taxes.

The major projects on tap for the year involve upgrading the municipality’s 12 bridges and applying a new layer of asphalt on Lido Plage Road south of Highway 1.

Fossay said an engineering company was hired in 2019 to assess all of the municipal-owned bridges in Cartier and identify what work is needed to bring them up to standard. This includes improving signage and repairs, with a total cost of approximately $300,000.

The Lido Plage Road resurfacing is also expected to cost about $300,000.

Fossay said the money for the projects will come from last year’s budget surplus of about $500,000 and the federal gas tax rebate funds that the municipality have accrued over the years.

While the 2020-21 financial plan passed by council on May 11 contains a budget of approximately $6.6 million — that’s about $1 million higher than the 2019-20 budget — the difference is mainly due to $1.8 million being transferred out of and into municipal reserve accounts for capital projects and purchases.

Cartier’s total tax assessment increased by just over $21 million from 2019.

The 2020-21 mill rate for a property in Elie is about 10 mills compared to 10.5 in 2019-20. For a property in Cartier outside Elie, the 2020-21 mill rate is approximately 10.3 mills compared to 11 mills in 2019-20. Taxpayers with property located in Local Improvement Districts set up to fund water and wastewater improvements will have slightly higher mill rates.

The draft financial plan presentation is available at www.rm-cartier.mb.ca