Local Business Collecting Shoes For Less Fortunate
⇢ A5
Primal Scream
May 8, 2013
Souris Watershed Back To Normal
WEDNESDAY
Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil raises an arm and a cheer before the more than 3,000 rock fans who went to Spectra Place for a dose of hair metal on Saturday night. For more see A3.
www.estevanmercury.ca
⇢ A4
EMS Kicks Off 2013 Season
⇢ B1
Issue 1
Residential and commercial taxes taking big jump in 2013 Rotary Celebrates 90 Years
⇢ B7
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WEATHER & INDEX
Estevan property owners are going to have to dig deep when they pay their taxes this year. City council passed the 2013 mill rate at Monday’s regular meeting and announced that property taxes for both commercial and residential property in Estevan will rise by two mills, or roughly 10 per cent. The increase is expected to bring in an additional $1.7 million in tax revenue. Mayor Roy Ludwig said the increase, which is the largest single hike in years, was due to the major rehabilitation project on the north section of Highway 47 through Estevan. As The Mercury has reported previously, the City and province have reached a cost-sharing agreement to repave the dilapidated sections of the road. The project is now estimated to cost around $4 million. Ludwig said council did not arrive at the decision lightly but felt they did not have a choice with such a big project on their hands. “We did a lot of soul-searching and countless meetings. We have been talking about this since last year actually,” Ludwig said following
Monday’s meeting. “At the end of the day we needed the money to do the job, we knew we had to do the job, and although the province is
coming to the table to help us, we have to have the monies in place.” Although the City has been fighting to keep
up with their infrastructure work over the past decade, council has largely frowned on the idea of a large tax hike in one year. Ludwig said with so many needs on the infrastructure side it was felt a large increase was the only way they could begin to get control of the situation. “It’s not something that anybody likes and it’s not something, believe me, that we took lightly but at the end of the day, to start to get ahead of the game, it’s something that was necessary. “Looking forward, we can set aside some money and unless something unforeseen comes up, we will be looking at not only paying our debt down but also putting serious monies aside for doing our infrastructure work. We are hoping that moving forward we can go back to incremental increases, I would say half a mill a year is what I would like to see, but it will depend on where we are at when that time comes. But after this sizable increase to get control of our infrastructure deficit, we do see things calming down.” Mill ⇢ A2
No clear direction after open house It appears the future of a curbside recycling program in Estevan is as clear as mud. The City held an open house Thursday evening in the lobby of Spectra Place to present residents with the cost of the various options they included in a recent request for proposals. The
meeting also allowed for residents to voice their opinion on what direction they would like the City to take. There was certainly no shortage of opinions expressed during the 90-minute event, which was dominated by complaints about the current automated garbage pickup system oper-
ated by Regens Disposal, who also took its share of heat. When all was said and done, it was clear that the roughly 75 people in attendance were in favour of recycling but were largely against a curbside pickup program for either recycling or garbage.
Mayor Roy Ludwig said the anger towards any type of curbside recycling program is something the City will take seriously as they move forward in their decision making process. “That is a serious issue that we will have to explore,” he said. “We will enter into discussions with
Regens and see what we can do because obviously it is a serious issue and has to be addressed.” The City issued the RFP earlier this year and although three businesses picked up information, only Regens Disposal submitted a proposal. Curbside ⇢ A2
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