Summerside property taxes prove major campaign issue

Basil Stewart, the long-time mayor of Summerside, says if he's elected again on Nov. 3, he'll do what he can to lower property taxes, but his opponent Bill Martin says that may not be a good idea.

High property taxes is one of the issues that keeps arising in Summerside during the municipal election campaign.

It's definitely a subject mayoral candidate Martin has faced.

"Had a conversation on a doorstep with a gentleman and he said, 'I know who you are and I know why you're here and I've only got one question for you. Are you going to reduce my property taxes?' And I said probably not."

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Martin says property taxes are a huge part of the city's revenue and that the city needs that money to pay back its almost $77-million net debt.

"That's a lot of money. The money has to be raised to pay for that," he said.

Incumbent mayor Basil Stewart says the city does have a financial plan to pay down the debt. And he believes that if the property taxes are lowered, it will attract more business.

"It's the signal that's sent out to developers and people wanting to move and live in Summerside," said Stewart.

"You know, taxes are going down and when they go down, you get the additional revenue by the new developments and that's the way it worked the year we did reduce the tax rate."

Meanwhile, Martin says there are other ways to attract new business to the city, besides lowering property taxes.