Another big turnout at MRC meeting demanding change to share calculation

Another big turnout at MRC meeting demanding change to share calculation

The Elsie Gibbons room at the MRC office in Campbell’s Bay was overflowing on Wednesday night (October 16) as around 50 citizens attended the monthly meeting, mainly to voice their support for changes to the way the MRC calculates its municipal shares.  This is the second meeting in a row with a large attendance related to this issue, made up primarily of residents from the Municipality of Alleyn-et-Cawood.

The sale of a number of lots for amounts well over their assessed value in the small rural municipality resulted in their municipal shares to the MRC increasing substantially. The Alleyn-et-Cawood residents have requested that the MRC pass a resolution to calculate MRC shares based on the current municipal evaluation, without including comparative factor. Comparative factor is a way of expressing the difference between the sale price of a property and the assessed value, and is used to determine what’s called the standardized value.

At the beginning of the meeting, there were several items that were requested to add to the agenda, including one put forward by Alleyn-et-Cawood Mayor Carl Mayer, to remove comparative factor from the share calculation. Mayer’s proposal to add the resolution to the agenda was voted down 17-1. Prior to the vote, several mayors from the table explained the rationale for their decision and offered sympathy for Mayer’s position. Litchfield Mayor Colleen Larivière said that they were closely examining their options, and asked the assembled residents for patience.

Mansfield-et-Pontefract Mayor Sandra Armstrong echoed Larivière’s comments.

Several representatives of the municipality and its residents spoke during the public question period. DG Isabelle Cardinal brought up the fact that the Municipality of Chichester saw a similar jump in shares back in 2022 and questioned why no changes were made. Chichester Mayor Donald Gagnon responded that while they examined their options at the time, the council couldn’t reach a consensus.

Angela Giroux, the chair of the Alleyn-et-Cawood taskforce on the issue, said she was hopeful about their appeals to the provincial government to change the evaluation process, but expressed her disappointment at the MRC’s response to their request thus far.