La Broquerie budget passes in split vote

The $10.24-million RM of La Broquerie budget was passed by a 4-3 vote after a public hearing.

Taxes are going down for rural residents with an average home value of $326,000 by $8. Those living in the LUD with an average home value of $303,000 will pay $81 more for the year.

The mill rate went down to compensate for the huge 20 percent jump in average home assessment values. The rate is now 14.310 for the LUD and 14.107 for rural residents, according to manager of administration and finance Jenna Patterson.

Last year house values were $272,000 for rural residents and $252,000 for those in the LUD.

The three councillors who voted against the budget were all from ward one, outside of the LUD and mostly more rural. They are Benno Friesen, Andy Loewen and Darrell Unger.

None returned requests for interviews on why they voted against the budget before press deadline.

All three did vote earlier against joining the Red-Seine-Rat wastewater project. It is a co-op of Southeast municipalities building a $235-million plant near Niverville. Pipes would connect La Broquerie’s lagoons and the other community’s lagoons to the facility for sewage treatment.

La Broquerie’s budget includes borrowing $15 million over 20 years for its share.

“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 Reeve Ivan Normandeau ahead of the budget hearing.

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.