" $ 5 6 " - * 5 4 r / & 8 4 MAYORAL CANDIDATES FOR THE NATION HAVE LAST WORD
With the municipal elections fast approaching, we have asked three questions to Prescott-Russell mayoral candidates. Questions related to their priorities, the infrastructure, taxes as well as their management style. Here are the answers of François St-Amour, Danika Bourgeois-Desnoyers and Denis Pommainville, mayoral candidates for The Nation. In your opinion, what are the two biggest challenges facing your municipality? If elec- ted mayor, what measures do you plan to take to address them? Danika Bourgeois-Desnoyers : The first challenge is the diversity of our tax base. 5IF/BUJPO.VOJDJQBMJUZOFFETUXPUIJOHTUP stimulate economic development: an action plan and a team in place. In the action plan, we will first find our culture as a municipality, the type of development we want. This is done by consulting with our residents and existing businesses. It will then outline our TUSBUFHZGPSBUUSBDUJOHMBCPS8FOFFEUPCF able to assure new developers that we have a good pool of labor among our residents. The objective of this community improvement plan is to revitalize, strengthen and diversify 5IF/BUJPOTFDPOPNZCZQSPNPUJOHQSJWBUF sector investment, development, redevelop- ment and construction activities. The second challenge is the legalization PGDBOOBCJT.VOJDJQBMJUJFTXJMMIBWFBNBKPS role to play. Although the guidelines are still not completely clear, there is enough documentation available to start consulting residents and get their opinions. Denis Pommainville : 0OFPG5IF/BUJPOT two major challenges is to increase its commercial and industrial tax revenues, to contain the high increase in residential mu- nicipal taxes, which are already the second highest in Prescott-Russell. The measures necessary to meet this challenge consist in having a vision, a business orientation in the creation of a real economic and tourism development department, with professional human resources and budgets necessary for an investment that will create jobs. The other challenge is to redeploy munici- pal and sports infrastructure and meet the needs of citizens. It is necessary to stop building excessive financial reserves ac- cording to provincial standards that sleep in
the anticipated new development, combined with a good financial strategy, we will have an increase in our revenues. Ontario municipalities own and maintain two-thirds of all infrastructure but collect only 9 per cent of taxes. The Association PG.VOJDJQBMJUJFTPG0OUBSJPNBEFBSFRVFTU to the province last year for 1 per cent of sales taxes. This is critical for small rural municipalities struggling to maintain and improve their infrastructure. Danika Bourgeois-Desnoyers : Fiscal SFTQPOTJCJMJUZ JT UIF SPMF PG DPVODJM .Z QSJNBSZHPBMJTUIFTUBUVTRVPGPSQSPQFSUZ UBYFT8FOFFEUPXPSLUPHFUIFSUPEJWFSTJGZ and increase our tax base, reassess our spending habits and find new and innovative ways to save money, including the street sweep recycling program that I introduced JONZDPNNVOJDBUJPOT8FNVTUSFJOWFOU ourselves and do things differently. Denis Pommainville : Currently, property UBYFTBSFJODSFBTJOHJO5IF/BUJPO CVUXFBSF receiving fewer services. I am not advocating an increase in property taxes, but a reduction in the policy rate on property value increases and the use of excessive reserves to restore missing services. Lisez la version française sur notre site Web: http://www.editionap.ca/mairie-nation et dans le Reflet-News de cette semaine.
À l’approche des élections municipales, nous avons posé des questions aux candidats à la mairie de la Municipalité de La Nation. Voici les réponses des trois candidats. —archives
François St-Amour: Doing more with less has been my commitment to the residents PGUIFNVOJDJQBMJUZ8FIBWFEFMJWFSFEBOE have not increased the tax rate in the last UXPZFBST"U5IF/BUJPO XFIBWFTFUBTJEF reserves for major infrastructure expendi- tures for the Village of Limoges, to ensure that new units in the water and sewer system are reasonably affordable. As a result of major infrastructure work with good strategic planning and subsidies received from the provincial and federal governments for the Limoges project, the municipality is well positioned to accommodate significant resi- dential development, which will encourage increased commercial and industrial develop- ment. The municipality is in an excellent financial position at the moment and, with
municipal coffers and use this accumulated capital for the benefit of citizens. François St-Amour : Our first challenge is to continue to do more with less and keep UBYSBUFJODSFBTFTUPBNJOJNVN8FXJMM continue to review our procedures and prac- tices to streamline expenses and service offerings to achieve savings where possible. Our second challenge is to attract commercial and industrial development. 8F QBSUJDJQBUFE JO UIF EFWFMPQNFOU PG the Prescott-Russell Opportunity strategy, which presents key recommendations for the expansion of commercial and industrial development. 8F BSF DPNNJUUFE UP FYQBOEJOH UIF economic development team to increase PVSSFBDI8FIJSFEBNBSLFUJOHBOEDPNNV - nications officer to work with the economic EFWFMPQNFOUUFBN8FIBWFQVUJOQMBDF key infrastructure in the Limoges region that we can use in discussions with developers and we will study the possibility of providing water service to the 417 for the Saint-Isidore industrial park. I will lobby to increase high-speed Inter- net services, natural gas and electricity, which are critical to attracting commercial EFWFMPQNFOU8FIBWFSFTFSWFEBDSFT PGBGGPSEBCMFJOEVTUSJBMMBOEJO-JNPHFT8F will work with all levels of government to maximize opportunities with our partners and take advantage of infrastructure programs and grants, and we will continue to work with neighbouring municipalities on projects. Avoiding increasing property taxes for taxpayers while improving infrastructure are recurring themes in any election campaign. 8IBUBSFZPVSUIPVHIUTPOUIJT
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