ANTIGONISH: The Town of Antigonish has begun budget deliberations.
The town’s chief administrative office (CAO) Jeff Lawrence says while they’re still early in their budget planning process, in relation to utilities, they anticipate a very tight year with possible deficits.
“Both the electric utility and the water utility have seen substantial decreases in revenue,” he told The Reporter. “This was partially due to the pandemic forcing the early closure of StFX, as well as many businesses in the community, combined with impacts related to weather.”
Following the town’s regular monthly council meeting on Feb. 23, Lawrence said the impact on the budget was not as substantial because they had some savings due to program cancellations.
He said he’s very pleased with how the town has fared to this point, noting there is still a long way to go.
“The town is very aware of the people and businesses in our community that are still suffering because of the pandemic,” Lawrence said. “Overall, the support community members have shown one another has been tremendous during these very challenging times.”
Lawrence advised they anticipate it being May before they table a finalized operational budget, as council will begin discussions this month. He noted it’s too early to tell what will happen in relation to tax rates.
He also said the town hopes to have its capital budget completed by April to be able to advance some tendering information.
Lawrence explained outside of the hope of moving beyond this pandemic, the biggest concern from a town perspective is the pandemic’s potential impacts on residential and commercial assessments.
“For the community, there have been a number of associations and businesses that have been hard hit with all of the cancellations last year,” he said. “The town hopes to see the return of our community events and a strong return of our tourism season if the conditions around the pandemic change.”