Cumberland House Owes Nearly $1-Million To NLSD

Cumberland House Owes Nearly $1-Million To NLSD

Monday, September 14, 2009 at 13:59

 

 

The mayor of Cumberland House says it’s going to take the entire community working together to pay down the backlog of school taxes the village owes to the Northern Lights School Division.

 

According to documents supplied to MBC and a spokesman at the Northern Lights School Division, the northern village had an outstanding balance of $992,000.

 

Andy McKay says he has talked with government officials and municipal advisors about the issue, but there is no clear solution.

 

Mckay declined to go on tape, but he says he wants to hold a community meeting so everyone can see what they’re up against.

 

At the end of the day, he says, landowners must realize that if they want services, they need to pay the tax on their property.

 

Meantime, the school division’s secretary-treasurer says the NLSD is looking at different ways of helping the community out.

 

Charlie Mcleod says the division will consider waiving the penalties on the balance, if the village can guarantee that the money is coming.

 

“The bulk of those receivables are in reality penalties. They’re not really current levies. So what we’re hoping to do is to come up with a means of collecting the current levies, and if we have to abate penalties, that’s an option that we’re certainly open to,” Mcleod says.

 

Mcleod estimates the problem with payments from Cumberland House has been on-going for close to a decade.

 

He says that in 2004, the amount owing was around $650,000.