MLAs Hear Concerns of Northern Mayors

Thursday, March 03, 2011 at 14:41

 

 

Government ministers were in Prince Albert today to hear a number of concerns from northern mayors.

 

Finances were a main topic at the northern roundtable.

 

Loan repayments and the thorny question of how to get people to pay their property taxes were both raised.

 

Mayor Fred McCallum of Green Lake says he’s been coming to these meetings for 14 years now and still hasn’t heard a solution to the problem.

 

Mayor Andy McKay of Cumberland House noted his community has had to work hard in recent years to repay institutions like the Northern Lights School Division, which were previously owed money from property tax.

 

Meantime, the mayor of Ile-a-la-Crosse, Dwayne Favel, says communities must make sure National Census-takers get a good idea of how many people live in each town or village.

 

He explains that according to the census only thirteen hundred people live in Ile-a-la-Crosse.

 

However, if you go by the local health records the true figure is closer to sixteen hundred.

 

Favel says discrepancies like that can affect different levels of funding.