GANDER, N.L. — The Gander and Area Chamber of Commerce isn’t happy with tax increases in this year’s town budget but members are glad to see the town is doing an independent operational review.
Rod French, chair of the chamber, said the chamber has been advocating this review for years.
“We wish the town had implemented this review sooner, perhaps they wouldn’t have had to increase the taxes but they didn’t. We’re glad they’re now going to undertake the review and hopefully it will result in some operational efficiency in the town of Gander.”
French cited examples of other towns undergoing similar reviews, such as Grand Falls-Windsor, who found ways to save money.
It its budget speech the town cited the $30 million cost for a new water treatment plant and expected increases in utility costs arising from Muskrat Falls as the main reason for the jump in water taxes, and residential and commercial property mill rates.
French said everyone has known impact from Muskrat Falls and new federal wastewater regulations has been coming for some time and council should have found other ways to pay for it rather than increasing taxes again.
The town did announce in the budget it would be cutting five full-time positions this year, saving to the tune of $273,000. French said while that’s a step in the right direction, the chamber doesn’t think it went far enough.
“The chamber doesn’t think the town did enough in-depth internal analysis to mitigate the increase of the taxes,” he told SaltWire. “The council keeps going back to the business community and taxpayers saying ‘we need you need to pay more.’ The idea of an operational review for Gander has been floating around for a long time, before I got here seven years ago. I don’t know what will come from this review but it’s time for the town to look internally.”
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