La Broquerie budget proposes keeping taxes steady

A public hearing on the proposed RM of La Broquerie budget is scheduled for a March 12 council meeting that starts at 6:30 p.m. Residents will get a presentation breaking down the $10.24-million financial plan.

That number is slightly down from last year, as are taxes.

“I think the biggest thing is holding the line on taxes… Many places around us are going up and unfortunately we bit the bullet last year, and this year we’re trying to hold the line on the taxes,” said Reeve Ivan Normandeau.

Assessments are way up, driving school taxes up for Seine River School Division. But the RM has decided to lower mill rates in the LUD and rural areas to make sure their tax bills do not see any jump.

Those property assessments are up due to value increase, but also population growth meaning more people can contribute to the pot. La Broquerie’s taxable assessments went up from $355.8 million to $431.8 million in one year.

“I think it’s always good to bring new people into the community. And our growth has been going on not just the last year, two or three years, it’s been continuous for the last 10 to 15 years,” explained Normandeau.

More people means more infrastructure is also needed. All those toilets flush to somewhere, and the RM has borrowed to build three lagoons since 2006. The budget includes borrowing $15 million over 20 years to become a part of the new Red-Seine-Rat wastewater plant to be built with other municipalities near Niverville.

The two loans coming off the books in 2026 are one of the old lagoons that are filling up fast, and the 2006 loan for the current municipal office building.

“There have been a good many developments approved over the last little while and this is why we have a school expansion at a brand new school at Arborgate. There have been many factors – a truck wash development – many factors into why a new lagoon was needed down the road here,” said Normandeau.

When construction starts is very much up in the air with turmoil spilling over the U.S. border.

“Don’t forget, there’s many factors going on in life right now so the government has other things to worry about, and I think we should think about that and not talk about only our nice little town,” said Normandeau.

The reeve hopes to see continued growth in La Broquerie.

“The more people you get, the more service you will hopefully get down the road. It’s always nice to see a community growing; it’s always nice to see walking trails that are full, baseball parks that are full, the arena that’s full. We have two beautiful schools so it’s always nice to bring people into your town and enjoy what you’ve been enjoying all your life,” he said.

There is $400,000 set aside for walking trails in the capital budget. A grant of $125,000 per year according to the reeve was awarded to La Broquerie.

“The walking trails, this has been a grant that we received four years ago. This is the last portion of the grant,” he said.

There is no other borrowing planned, with other capital projects paid for by the general fund and reserves. The focus is on dealing with filling lagoons.

“That’s basically what it is, is focus on getting wastewater off the ground and get going. And once that’s taken care of then we could focus on other projects,” said Normandeau.

The capital budget includes $120,000 for Marchand park upgrades, $150,000 for Eastgate Drive improvements, $120,000 for an outdoor rink project, and $480,000 for road projects.

Gravel for road maintenance gets $645,000 after a nasty spring thaw last year decimated many roads in the Southeast. That is a $45,000 increase in the $2.26-million transportation services budget.

“Obviously road maintenance is our biggest expense line in our budget so every year we kind of have to hope for the best and try to pick away at our problem spots and hopefully they don’t repeat themselves in years following,” said Normandeau.