Roxanne Bergheim, Alice Herperger, Norm Noel and Richard Lavoie stood in front of nearly 100 people at the Rec. Centre Multi-Purpose Room to pitch their platforms on Wednesday. Each hopes to become the new face at the Town of St. Paul council table.
The vote to fill the vacant councillor’s seat will be held Thursday, Jan. 12, between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. at the Town office.
Following opening remarks, candidates took questions from the floor. In a question to Lavoie on how he would continue keep the progress of the last five years of the town going, he said he would talk to the “movers and shakers” of the community and find out what the needs are to continue to grow. The Town should also talk with the County and develop a five or ten year plan, he added.
One question asked Herperger to clarify comments reported in the Journal that she would vote for the right idea over the popular one. “I have been to a number of Town council meetings and it has always been an eye opening experience. I really would suggest you all take it in,” she said. “I honestly believe that when somebody is sitting on council, they stop paying attention.” While team work is important on council, she said she believes sometimes it is necessary to vote against the majority.
A question to Bergheim asked what she would do to encourage economic development. Bergheim noted Champions for Change is looking into what St. Paul can do to entice people to live in town such as seniors housing. She said downtown beautification efforts will help and the new medical centre will attract more professionals.
The east end development is great for the community but is hurting the downtown core, said Noel, responding to a question on what new ideas he would bring to council. “I would like to see our revitalization of the downtown going, in turn attracting more businesses to the downtown and helping our community prosper.”
All candidates responded to a tax question: whether council should increase taxes or cut services if faced with a deficit. Bergheim said she would need to know how big the deficit is. “It’s always a long range thing … You have to look at the whole picture,” she said, adding she would ask if the deficit could be recovered and how a deficit came about in the first place.
Lavoie said St. Paul property taxes are fair compared to other similarly sized communities and said a budget would have to be balanced. The only way to improve a deficit budget is to increase taxes, he said, adding that “sometimes you need to say no to things the Town is bringing forward.”
“I would not want to cut essential services,” said Noel, adding council could look at what may be cut to not increase the tax burden. “If there are no cuts that can be made, of course we will have to raise property taxes unfortunately.”
Herperger said taxes can only be raised to cover a deficit, referring to the Municipal Government Act. She suggesting covering the deficit by looking at both a small tax increase and cutting services where possible to balance the budget. If the increase needed was five per cent, a three per cent tax increase and two per cent cut might be a way of balancing the budget, she said.
For full coverage of the byelection forum, see the St. Paul Journal on Tuesday.
