A majority of survey respondents in Lantzville are in favour of a property tax increase.
The District of Lantzville received 99 responses to an online survey asking whether residents favoured a zero, two or three per cent tax increase to go with a proposed three per cent increase in water user rates and 6.9 per cent increase in flat sewer rates.
Approximately 44 per cent of respondents indicated they were in favour of a three-per cent property tax increase, followed by 36 per cent in favour of no tax increase and 19 per cent in favour of a two-per cent increase.
Every one-per cent tax increase equates to about $31,000 of additional revenue for the district annually. Any increase would go toward putting money into reserves for future infrastructure replacement.
Mayor Mark Swain noted at a meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 26, that there were some repeated IP addresses used. He drew attention to four responses from the same IP address that all voted in favour of a three-per cent increase.
"When it comes to taxation, it is the same household, not four individuals that pay," he said. "To me, there's no way of guaranteeing if it was just the one household casting the vote versus four members 鈥� It was all done in a very short time so that's all coming from probably one resident's [household] or it could be the same person on their cellphone in a coffee shop, who knows."
Swain said he hasn't ruled out being willing to use the same online survey platform in the future for public input, "but you have to keep in mind you get 鈥� 99 [responses] and you have a population of Lantzville in excess of over 3,800 people."
He added that council is continuing to accept correspondence, and residents are welcome to express opinions outside of the choices presented in the survey, such as above three per cent, or even below zero per cent.
"Constructive comments are always welcome and if you can provide us with concrete examples of how that money could serve our community better, even better for us to help support whatever we end up choosing as a council."
Council can be contacted by e-mail at district@lantzville.ca, addressed to the attention of council. Written submissions are required to have a name, civic address and related comments. All submissions, including names and addresses, will become part of the public record and posted at http://.
On March 12, council is expected to discuss the feedback and make a decision for the 2025 tax increase.
