Bridgewater businesses and property owners will be paying an equal commercial and residential tax rate of point 08 cents per 100 dollars of assessment to help pay the Town's share of the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre. Council voted 4 to 2 to implement option 1 of a special purpose tax to help fund the facility. Mayor Carroll Publicover says creating an unbalanced rate could create division. He says everybody has to dig in and support this project. Publicover says the business community has the capacity to deal with an increase, probably a little better than the residential side has to.
The Mayor had favoured implementing the special tax over a 20 year period. He says that a reasonable length of time to pay that capital investment off and then deal with the capital improvements from that point forward, and there will be capital reserves built into the operating of the facility. Council will determine the time frame at a later date before the special purpose tax is implemented next year.