Homeowners within the rural area of La Broquerie appeared in front of La Broquerie council Wednesday evening in response to learning their property taxes are increasing by 9.4 percent this year. 

One of the main concerns that was brought up by several residents in attendance, is that homeowners within the LUD will only see a property tax increase of 5.5 percent, which they stated is unfair to those living in the rural area. 

Reeve Ivan Normandeau explains the reason why the rural area property taxes saw a larger increase than the LUD, is because of the increase in budget to road repairs in the rural area. 

“We're spending a lot more. Last year was a horrible spring and fall, so we made the decision to increase our gravel budget and our ditching budget so we can try to fix our roads properly.” 

He notes council’s gravel budget has increased from $475,000 to $600,000. 

Many residents responded to this comment by saying the burden of the costs should be put equally on both the rural and LUD. 

Tracey Binkley says everybody should be equally sharing the burden of the tax increase, especially when rural residents help pay for things like the Lagoon.

“It really does feel like rural residents are almost being targeted, for lack of a better word. The rural residents are as important as the in-town residents. Everybody should be treated equally and it doesn't feel like that's the case.” 

The main issue residents emphasized was the poor road conditions on many of the roads leading to their homes.

Binkley says the roads are so bad that she, along with other residents, have had to trade in their cars for trucks just so they can get to work. 

"And then they get slammed with 9.4 percent for gravel? That’s a hard pill to swallow.” 

Darlene Penner, a bus driver in the area, mentioned that she is dealing with a lot of issues when picking up children in La Broquerie. 

“I literally had to have the parents meet me at the road because I could not go down the road to pick up their kids. How come the roads are so bad even for school bus drivers, we don't know where to go anymore?” 

She says that in the last month and a half, she has gone through three spare tires as the leaf springs broke. 

Many residents added that they felt trapped, saying the road conditions are so abysmal that they are unable to sell their homes to live somewhere more affordable. 

Binkley says buyers can’t view the house if they can’t drive down the road. 

“People are under such financial strains already with the cost of inflation and everything going up, and now if they are forced to sell because they can't afford the property tax increase, they can't put their house for sale right now because people will not come down that road to come and see it. It won’t sell.” 

Brent Oswald says he bought his own grader, and he grades the road and digs his own ditches. 

He says road conditions are not just a seasonal issue, it’s more than three months out of the year. 

“I have a picture of both your graders stuck on my municipal road dead center on May 24th, I was almost done seeding, so spring was over, that's how impassable the roads are,” he says. “And what was more maddening was I had graded it the day before and it was passable, and the guy dug up the middle. And now I have people phoning me, can you fix the road? I'm a taxpayer, just like they are.” 

He, along with many other residents, recommend council cut costs from other luxuries in town to be able to afford necessary road improvements. 

“We need infrastructure. Paved walk paths and all this recreational stuff does not need to come first, it absolutely should be put on the shelf. If you can't buy groceries and put a roof on your child's head, I'm pretty sure you're not signing them up for hockey.”  

Resident Kevin Van Dongen adds that he has a heavy-duty truck, and ever since moving to La Broquerie, his mechanic costs have skyrocketed. 

He says when he lived in the City, he would replace the ball joints on his truck every four or five years, but his truck requires a lot more maintenance since he moved to La Broquerie ten years ago. 

“I have two vehicles and I'm changing upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends every single year. And I drive 30-40, it’s supposed to be a speed limit of 90. If you can make 90, wow!” 

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Kevin Van Dongen sent us this video of him driving South on Hwy. 302 from Hwy. 303 to Road 31N. He says the worst part is it was graded just a few days prior!

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(Kevin Van Dongen driving south on Hwy. 302 from Hwy. 303 to Rd 31 N after the road was graded just a few days prior.)

Van Dongen says he is sick of having to pay for repairs on his vehicle because of 'appalling’ road conditions. 

“Leaf springs you replace those maybe once, since I have lived out here with my heavy-duty truck, three times I have had to replace my leaf springs, and that's not cheap whatsoever,” he says. “For that extra money, I would have no problem paying an increase on my taxes, no problem whatsoever, if I did not have to pay out of pocket to repair my vehicle.” 

He is very concerned the budgeted road improvements won’t actually fix anything. 

“I'm hearing a lot of talk about the word gravel. I live South of 303 on 302, there's never gravel, it is grade B, it's a lot of sand,” he says. “This use of the word gravel should not be used right now because this is a sand mixture that just washes away creating potholes.”  

Several people mentioned concerns about temporary fixes to the roads.

Resident Allen Penner adds council needs to make sure these fixes aren’t another band-aid, and asks they rebuild the roads, as the current roads were built over 50 years ago. 

“Putting gravel on top of peat moss is not going to solve the problem, it will just disappear. So you need to think a bit bigger and maybe cancel some of the walking trails that you budgeted.”  

Binkley, along with other residents, are also concerned that emergency services will likely be unable to get down these roads. 

“My house is going to burn down or I'm going to die if I have a heart attack before somebody can come help me. I have my own sewer, my own well, I have no sidewalk, no street lights, I have to pay $420 to get my garbage picked up, but you're going to raise my taxes 9.4 percent. And in town, they have all of that and they're only going to get an increase of 5.4 percent?”

Council thanks the community for their feedback, and says they will do their best to improve road conditions.

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