The cost of fire services is going up for some people in Lunenburg County.
The United Communities Fire Department, which covers Broad Cove, Voglers Cove, and Cherry Hill, has raised their rates $0.10 cents to $0.12.
Chief Wayne Smith says they didn’t have much choice.
“Just because it cost more to keep our department in operation. Still it’s considerably low compared to a lot of other departments in the Municipality.”
Smith isn’t wrong.
Of the 28 departments in the municipality most collect an average of $.13 per $100 of assessment, with Petite Riviere collecting the highest at $0.20.
He says this is the first time they’ve raised the tax in nearly 20 years.
“We were very diligent with what we were doing, and we tried to shop wisely,” he says, “but, after a bit things just get higher that you can’t manage that anymore.”
Smith says some of the money will go to kitchen upgrades that will allow the department to keep fundraising.
He expects the rate to stay at $0.12 for the next few years.
United Communities is one of three departments changing their tax.
Blockhouse is going down $0.002 and Riverport is going up $0.01.
