Saint John needs municipal reform in 2019: mayor

Saint John Mayor Don Darling says the city is counting on the new Blaine Higgs government to deliver major municipal reforms in 2019.

Darling says those changes should include changes to the property tax system and opportunities to allow cities to generate revenue on their own.

He says there must also be an opportunity to regionalize some services with outlying communities.

A report from a joint working group comprised of civil servants from the city and the provincial governments is due to be released this month.

It's expected to include a list of recommended courses of action for both levels of government.

"The number one priority for us in 2019 is the sustainability working group report," said Darling. "I believe we need some pretty radical restructuring in the city in terms of how we do business."

The working group was created in late 2017 by then-premier Brian Gallant.

It was accompanied by an emergency three-year, $22 million funding package to ward off major cuts to front line city services following years of near-zero assessment growth for the municipality.

The funding package runs out at the end of 2020.

The 2019 contribution adds $7.1 million to the city budget.

Darling says since 2017, the city has worked hard to make its operations more efficient.

Raising the property tax rate is not considered an option as Saint John already the highest of any municipality in the province.

"We're trying to change dramatically the revenue and the cost side of our business, and ultimately we have to reduce our taxes and our costs to citizens," said Darling.

"So we have to make the city more affordable to live in. And the only way we're going to do that is to generate some new revenue. And we can get our costs, over a period of time, under control."

A  report prepared by former city manager Jeff Trail calls for a list of reforms including changes to the property tax system to remove some exemptions for big industry and giving municipalities the right to set different classes of taxable property.

It also asks for changes to the system of binding arbitration for groups like police and firefighters, and more support for regionalization of services.

In an address to Saint John city council in August 2018, then-opposition leader Higgs said he would support giving municipalities more autonomy in tax matters and would also support the taxing of equipment and machinery in industry.

Higgs formed a minority government in November.

Saint John has averaged less than one percent assessment growth over the past several years. The most recent data from Statistics Canada shows the city's population in 2016 was 67,575.

That's down just over 2,000 people from two years earlier.