EVANSVILLE—Taxpayers in Burpee and Mills township will see an increase of 3.5 percent in this year’s municipal budget, with the majority of the taxes being raised going toward maintenance of the township roads.
“Council passed our 2025 budget, at a council meeting last night (May 7),” said Reeve Ken Noland. “A large part of the expenses in our budget are going into infrastructure, mostly road maintenance.”
Reeve Noland said there is approximately 50 miles of roads in the township and council had agreed several years ago to put budget money aside to undertake work and maintenance on about 10 miles per year, but have only been carrying out work on about seven or eight miles every year.
“We need to put more into resurfacing roads, so they don’t deteriorate to the point that they become a financial burden in future years,” said Reeve Noland.
Reeve Noland also explained, “We have also seen an increase in our requisition for things like the DSB (District Services Board), policing, public health, which we as a municipality have no control over; we are mandated to pay for these programs. And we still have the issue of a loss of over $200,000 in tax exemptions every year for the Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy and Nature Conservancy of Canada from property that they own in the township.”
