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“We’re all in this together now”: Dorchester mayor on proposed amalgamation

Debbie Wiggins-Colwell speaking at Remembrance Day ceremonies in Dorchester, November 11, 2021. Photo: Karen Crawford

Dorchester mayor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell is not all that worried about loss of identity for her community of Dorchester in the wake of proposed amalgamation with neighbouring Sackville, Point de Bute and surrounding areas. But she does have other concerns, mostly about unknowns in the process that is slated to begin in the new year, after local government minister Daniel Allain gets his proposed plan through the provincial legislature.

Wiggins-Colwell says she was expecting big changes from the local governance reform plan, but the merger of Sackville and Dorchester surprised her. “We thought maybe some local service district would be included, but then all of a sudden here we are—Dorchester, Sackville and Point de Bute. We’re all in this together now.”

Dorchester village council met on Tuesday night to discuss the alamagamation announcement, and concerns were expressed about community identity and the future of the local fire department. “Until we get our transition team in at the first of the year, we don’t know how this is going to look,” says Wiggins-Colwell.

Newly elected in May of this year, Wiggins-Colwell’s mayoral term will be cut short by the amalgamation, along with the rest of Dorchester and Sackville councils. She says she is interested in running again to represent Dorchester. “I will certainly seek a seat on the new council, however it will work,” says Wiggins-Colwell. She is expecting some sort of ward system to be incorporated into the new council, to replace the at-large representatives now in place in Dorchester and Sackville.… Continue

Sackville, Dorchester and surrounding LSDs to form “entity 40”

From the New Brunswick government’s white paper on local governance reform, page 50.

Sackvillians will be headed to the polls earlier than expected, and their neighbours from outside current town boundaries will be joining them.

In November 2022, municipal elections will be held for a new municipal entity made up of the town of Sackville, the village of Dorchester, the local service districts of Sackville and Point de Bute, and about 40% of the local service district of Dorchester.

The amalgamation is part of a major restructuring of local government throughout the province announced today by Daniel Allain, minister for local governance. New Brunswick will move from having 104 local governments, and hundreds of unrepresented local service districts, to 78 local governments and 12 rural districts.

The new Sackville-Dorchester-Point de Bute amalgam, referred to an “entity 40” in the province’s white paper [get the PDF here], will have a population of 8,352, and the combined tax base will be $869,814,050.

Currently, the town of Sackville about five times as many people as the village of Dorchester, but its tax base is about ten times as big.

Populations according to 2016 census:

Town of Sackville: 5,331
Village of Dorchester: 1,096
Sackville Parish LSD: 1,182
Dorchester Parish LSD: 429
Westmorland census subdivision (which includes Point de Bute, Baie Verte, and Westmorland LSDs): 908

Municipal tax base for 2022:

Town of Sackville: $662,069,250
Village of Dorchester: $61,667,550

Allain said Thursday that the next step will be introducing legislation sometime in December to formalize the changes.… Continue

Sackville town council calls for regional governments, fairness in taxation

People who live in areas outside the shaded areas don’t have elected local representation. Map: screencap from GeoNB map viewer

Amalgamation is unrealistic, equalization is unfair, and regional collaboration is great if all residents pay a fair share: those are some of the key messages in a letter from Sackville mayor Shawn Mesheau to Minister of Local Government Daniel Allain, unanimously approved by town council on Tuesday evening.

The letter breaks down Sackville’s input on local governance reform into four areas first outlined in the province’s green paper on the topic: structure, land use planning, regional collaboration, and finance.

STRUCTURE: LEAVE THE TOWN, INCORPORATE THE LSDs

Structure is typically the first thing people think of when talking municipal reform.

Currently about 30% of New Brunswickers, like those living in the Sackville Parish local service district (LSD) just outside of town limits, don’t have local level representation. Instead they are governed directly by the province, with no political power over municipal issues.

Daniel Allain has expressed interest in ending that lack of representation, and the town of Sackville supports the idea. The letter suggests “some form of regional government” for unincorporated areas such as local service districts, so that the town will have someone to negotiate with when it comes to collaboration “on projects or other investments that serve a regional benefit.” Currently, the town deals with the province for regional collaborations, and the power balance there means there’s not much negotiation.… Continue

Last day for survey on local governance reform

Today is the final day to fill out a survey on the province’s Green Paper on local governance reform.

The paper outlines a list of scenarios for how local governments could be reformed in New Brunswick. Local Government Minister Daniel Allain has pointed out time and again that a good share of the population, more than 30 per cent, does not have elected representation at the local level, and he would like to remedy that situation.

The green paper recommends establishing new or reconfigured local governance entities, and talks about various options on that front. The paper also proposes strengthening the mandate of regional service commissions to provide additional services, such as tourism, economic development, adaptation to climate change, solid waste collection, and recreation. With regard to financing and taxation, the paper mentions the possibility of lowering of the so-called double tax collected by the province and adding more rate flexibility for different classes of property.

You can read the green paper here, and fill in the survey here.

RELATED STORIES:

The history behind the lack of local representation outside of town limits

… Continue

The history behind the lack of local representation outside of town limits

Today is election day in New Brunswick, and Sackvillians who haven’t already voted are heading to the Tantramar Civic Centre to cast their votes for local representation on the regional health boards, district education councils, and town hall.

But many area residents will have a decidedly smaller ballot than others. People who live outside of Sackville town limits, in the Sackville parish local service district, won’t be voting for local government representatives on May 10, because they don’t have any.

According the department of local government approximately 30 per cent of the population of New Brunswick lives in local service districts. While some have elected advisory committees, these committees don’t have legislated authority. Department of Local Government and Local Governance Reform spokesperson Anne Mooers says there are currently 164 Local Service Districts with a committee, leaving 85 without. Mooers says the number of LSDs with committees has increased since 2010 when the government created Regional Service Commissions.

CHMA spoke with Mount Allison Professor Geoff Martin to find out about the history behind this lack of local representation for 30% of New Brunswick’s population, and many of Sackville’s neighbours.

A “STRANGE SYSTEM”

Martin agrees it’s a strange system, rooted in New Brunswick’s unique history. And it wasn’t always like it is now.

“If you go back to the 1920s an 30s, municipal government in New Brunswick, like in many parts of the country, was actually the dominant level of government,” says Martin.… Continue

Tag: amalgamation

“We’re all in this together now”: Dorchester mayor on proposed amalgamation

Sackville, Dorchester and surrounding LSDs to form “entity 40”

Sackville town council calls for regional governments, fairness in taxation

STRUCTURE: LEAVE THE TOWN, INCORPORATE THE LSDs

Last day for survey on local governance reform

The history behind the lack of local representation outside of town limits