2 parties would let cities share in tax revenues from heavy industry, 3rd gathers data

New Brunswick political party leaders all had different answers Monday night when asked where they stand on letting Saint John get a share of property tax revenues from heavy industry.

Progressive ConservativeBlaine Higgs, Liberal Susan Holt and David Coon of the Green Party appeared before Saint John city council in the lead-up to the provincial election later this fall.

Theytook questions from councillors on municipal fiscal reform, mental health and housing,among other topics,

In a position paper prepared for the occasion, the city pledged support for reallocating heavy industry property tax revenues to the municipalities in which they are generated to support local services and infrastructure.

Holt said a Liberal government would aim right away for fiscal reform but would aim higher than a transfer of heavy industrial tax revenue.

"That will be a piece of it," she said. "But I think it becomes more powerful when we do a complete property tax overhaul that tackles assessment.

"We need to be getting the right assessment values for our properties and assessing the right things, whether that's machinery and equipment or otherwise."

Holt said it wouldtake more than a "piece of industrial property tax" to give municipalities what they need, and she would hope to have a system in place by the end of 2025.

TheHiggsgovernment brought in local governance reforms in early 2023, creating or expanding multiple municipalities. The changes followed a white paper in late 2021 that said these reforms would be followed by fiscal reform.

The intent was to make changes related to finances before Jan. 1, 2025.

In Saint John on Monday, Higgsturned questions about municipal reform over to Local Government Minister GlenSavoie, who did not make a commitment but told councillors the province hopes to have finished gathering data by next year.

He said he's heard Mayor Donna Reardon talk about a "deficit" of $300 million in needed infrastructure and said he wants to "understand that right across the province."

Once the infrastructure picture isbetter understood, his party can address reform.

"Do we need to look at industrial taxes being flowed to the municipality from where they come? Those are all questions that will be answered through that process."

Any legislative changes related to fiscal reform would happen in 2025 for implementation in 2026, Savoie said.

Coon said the Green Party would ensure that a significant proportion of industrial property tax revenue goes to the city "but not entirely."

"There's a strong linkage in the case you made in your paper about the city hosting a lot of heavy industry and therefore you should be seeingsignificant benefits through the property tax system, which you are not. So you should.

"There is one small issue of environmental regulation which the province is responsible for. So we need to hold on to a little bit of [tax revenue]."

Respondingto mental health, addiction

Priorities raised in the city's new affordable housing strategy, including addressing addiction, mental health and homeless, were also raised by councillors.

Deputy Mayor John Mackenzie asked the party leaders whether they would expand existing services of mental health and addiction help, such as those offered byRidgewoodAddiction Service, a rehab centre in Saint John.

Higgssaid additional mental health and addiction centres are required and his government is looking into expanding existing services, such Portage Atlantic, aresidential drug rehab centre.

Coun. PaulaRadwanquestioned howHiggswould address people who were "not ready to stop using hard drugs."

Earlier Monday, Higgs told a Saint John business group that he would not approve safe injection sites. A goal of these supervised sites it to prevent overdoses, but Higgs told Radwan there are concerns about the safety of other people.

"We have to find a way to say 'When does it become a safety issue?'"Higgssaid.

"We have to make the hard choices and find a way to balance that so that we don't have a situation where someone really gets hurt from someone who is heavily addicted."

Coon said existing mental health services need to be expanded, but he also cited barriers to existing mental health services, with many providers being private. He said infrastructure exists but some people can't get access to it.

"Most people can't access those who really need it, and so we need to make sure they can," he said.
Holt agreed there are some existing solutions, such asRidgewod, but said more can be done.

At the outset of the session with party leaders, Councillors David Hickey and JoannaKillendeclared conflicts of interest and left the council table because they're both candidates in the October election. Coun. Brent Harris declared a conflict of interest because he's managing a candidate's campaign.

NDP Leader Alex White will be able to appear at council next week, Reardon said.