GUYSBOROUGH – The Municipality of the District of Guysborough’s (MODG) committee of the whole (COW) has backed the first step toward removing Canso sewer costs from its controversial additional local services tax and replacing them with a user-based fee structure.
At its Sept. 2 meeting, the COW voted to proceed with establishing a new wastewater management district bylaw for Canso. The draft will now move to formal council consideration.
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Shawn Andrews told councillors the proposed bylaw was developed along the lines of MODG’s existing wastewater districts. “It basically mirrors the two existing bylaws that we have for wastewater management districts,” he said, noting that provisions have been added for circumstances unique to Canso, including the fish plant.
Andrews said the proposed Canso district would contain approximately 430 equivalent units covering about 400 accounts. The actual equivalent-unit charge would be established as part of the municipality’s 2027-28 budget.
The change is connected to the long-running dispute over taxation in the former Town of Canso.
Costs associated with Canso’s sewer system are now recovered through the additional local services tax, meaning the amount a property contributes toward sewer service is tied to its assessed value.
Under the proposed system, those costs would instead be recovered through equivalent-unit charges – a user fee-based approach in which properties are billed according to the number of sewer-use units assigned to them, rather than how much the property is worth.
Andrews told councillors the effect would vary by property, with some users paying more for sewer service and others paying less. “It’s one unit per five seats,” he said of licensed establishments, meaning a 50-seat facility would carry about 10 equivalent units under the proposed schedule.
The proposal follows a taxation review conducted by KPMG for MODG earlier this year, in which the consultant concluded that Canso’s taxation concerns stemmed from a combination of low assessed property values, mandated service levels and the legacy tax structure established when the former town amalgamated with MODG in 2012.
Since then, the additional local services tax has been used to fund both the Canso sewer system and 1.5 RCMP officers – an arrangement KPMG found differed from the way comparable services are financed elsewhere in the municipality.
Among its recommendations, KPMG called on MODG to move Canso to an equivalent-unit sewer fee structure consistent with the municipality’s other sewer systems. Warden Paul Long said the new bylaw reflects “what the community has been asking for vehemently for a while now.”
KPMG also recommended reviewing the policing arrangement and seeking a review of property assessment methodology. Chief Administrative Officer Sean O’Connor told councillors Sept. 2 that MODG is examining the policing component in parallel, with both matters expected to return to council as it moves toward the next budget process. He cautioned that the full effect on the additional local services tax remains to be determined.
“There will obviously be changes with the entire system when that happens,” he said, adding that some details remain unknown.
Deputy Warden Janet Peitzsche, who represents District 5, communities including Little Dover and Hazel Hill, moved the recommendation to proceed with the new bylaw. The motion was seconded and carried.
