MULGRAVE – Mulgrave taxpayers will see increases in residential and commercial tax rates this year after council approved its 2026-27 budget June 2, including a 3.32 per cent increase across all tax categories.
Council set a residential tax rate of $1.2785 per $100 of assessment and a commercial rate of $4.6758 per $100. It also set a fire protection levy of 20.79 cents per $100 of assessment and a sewer levy of 46.6 cents per $100 of assessment. The town’s general operating budget for 2026-27 totals $2.43 million.
The new rates follow two years in which residential and commercial tax rates remained unchanged at $1.2375 and $4.5257 respectively.
Addressing council, Chief Administrative Officer David Gray said staff revisited a number of revenue and expenditure accounts in an effort to lower the proposed increase from 5.37 per cent. Changes included adjustments to rental revenues, recreation-related income, post office rental income and revenue associated with Nova Scotia’s extended producer responsibility program. Additional funding was also added for municipal signage and trail development initiatives.
Staff also reviewed recent assessment changes, Gray said, noting that while some properties experienced significant increases, most saw only modest changes.
“I think the rate is as reasonable as we can make it in the situation, the budget situation we’re in,” he said.
Not all councillors were satisfied with the process that produced the budget.
During debate, Councillor Joanne Maas Latimer declined to vote on the water utility operating budget and later voted against the water capital budget, both of which ultimately passed.
“We are supposed to be responsible for the budget, but we have no input into the budget itself,” Maas Latimer told council. “We just get presented the budget and review the budget.”
The former deputy mayor said she has raised the issue with elected officials elsewhere.
“Everywhere else that I talk to people, they’re like, ‘What do you mean you don’t have input into the budget? It’s your responsibility to be part of the input of the budget.’”
Throughout the discussion, Maas Latimer pressed staff on several budget assumptions, including community pool revenues, fundraising classifications, hiring practices and the town’s approach to advertising vacant municipal positions.
The budget comes as the town continues to grapple with a range of financial pressures, including an $80,000 water utility deficit that officials hope to offset through a transfer from the utility’s depreciation fund.
Council also approved a $900,000 debenture to support capital projects including wastewater infrastructure upgrades, waterfront development in McNairs Cove and work related to the Dockton Street bridge.
