Discussions

Well we have had a while under new municipal amalgamations , basically forced on us by the NDP.  
I have some questions.  
(1) municipal taxes, have they lowered or risen under the amalgamations  
(2) has your municipality become more efficient  
(3) has the number of municipal employees increased or decreased versus the number of employees that were employed by the smaller municipalities/ towns  
(4)Does anyone see better services available  
(5)Has the number of council members increased or decreased  
(6) has the wages of these councillors increased.  
 

1) taxes seem to always go up, but expecting larger increases once town and municipality are completely amalgamated, town taxes much higher than municipal.  
2) did see town and municiple equipment working together last summer which could be a plus  
3) there has been an increase in employes as far as I can tell, and it is on management  
4) haven't seen much change but the situation has changed  
5) council members have decreased  
6) not sure about wages for councilors or mayor reeve, would imagine there will be an increase considering larger work load and more responsibility.

We have land in two municipalities. Rural and town councils joining is just not working. Their has been no cost saving and most have seen increased costs. One rural muni has a large surplus which was immediately absorbed so all their savings were for not. Urban dwellers expect services that rural people just don't get(water,sewer,garbage paved streets). This causes tension because everyone is expected to pay their share but service is not equal.