Amalgamation would solve 'financial woes,' Saint John mayor says

Saint John Mayor Don Darling is continuing his push for one regional municipality, despite strong opposition from mayors in the suburbs.

"I don't want to fight, I want to collaborate," Darling said Friday in an interview with Information Morning Saint John.

"Right now we're in a convenient amalgamation, where the city pays for the majority of the costs and we don't get compensated for that."

• Despite some help, Saint John's financial outlook as grim as ever, mayor says 
• Mayors resist councillor's pitch to amalgamate Saint John region 
• Saint John asks province to review amalgamation of regional municipalities

The arrangement isn't reasonable, fair or sustainable, said Darling, who also addressed amalgamation in his state of the city speech Thursday.

"We either collaborate and negotiate mutual benefits," he said. "If we don't, I will be no part of the status quo approach.

"It'll mean we have to do other things and look at other options that won't be that nice." 

Our financial woes have not gone away.- Don Darling, mayor of Saint John

The city has proposed an amalgamation to the province, which said it would not force regionalization on anyone.

Instead, the province said it would support communities that want to study the idea.

With amalgamation, the mostly residential communities that make up the city's neighbours — Quispamsis, Rothesay and Grand Bay-Westfield — would add 35,000 people to Saint John's population and vastly expand its service territory.

"Let's face some of the realities that we're facing — as a region and as a province and think about 15, 20 years from now," Darling said. "Where are we all going to be?"

Merger discussions have surfaced periodically over the decades, both in high-level conversations and among citizens across the greater Saint John area.

'A non-starter, full-stop'

As happened much earlier and faster in other urban areas, young people have been showing greater interest in uptown Saint John life, eschewing their parents' choice to be suburban commuters. 

But Grand Bay-Westfield, Rothesay and Quispamsis have opposed studying anything to do with amalgamation.

"Amalgamation is a non-starter, full-stop, end of story," Quispamsis Mayor Gary Clark said Friday. "And rather than bringing us closer together, quite honestly [it] has a much greater potential of driving us further apart." 

He said Quispamsis would continue to work with the other municipalities and described the level of co-operation as strong.

Quispamsis residents do not want to amalgamate with Saint John, Clark said, but he thinks the two municipalities could work together to improve recreation. He also said the town contributes "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to facilities in Saint John every year. 

Darling said that over the next few months, the city and provincial government will discuss terms for a new deal that will allow the municipality to dig out from under its "structural deficit."  

To buy the city time, Premier Brian Gallant has promised up to $22.8 million over three years.

Expects layoffs

"Our financial woes have not gone away," he said.

But with little hope for serious assessment growth over the next few years, there is widespread agreement the provincial assistance won't be enough to prevent layoffs and widespread cuts to city services after 2020, he said.

City officials have raised a number of other potential remedies, including changes to the property tax system, and allowing the municipality to launch for-profit businesses.

"We need change, we need action and we need specific commitments," he said.