Council holds tax rate with 2025/2026 Operating Budget

The Municipality of Pictou County will be holding its property tax rate.

Council for the Municipality of Pictou County voted on July 7, 2025, to approve a $26,065,443 operating budget. The tax rate for the 2025/26 fiscal year will be $0.815/$100 assessed value for residential and resource properties and $1.825/$100 assessed value for commercial properties.

Warden Robert Parker said Council is happy to be able to hold the tax rate, although he noted residents may still be paying more for taxes because of increasing property value assessments. Assessments are determined by the independent Property Valuation Services Corporation without input from the Municipality.

“Much like our individual homes and businesses, the County’s cost of doing business also increases each year, including salaries and wages, repairs and maintenance and meeting demand for new services,” Parker said. “Our efforts will always be aimed at balancing our budget and trying to keep tax bills to the lowest possible increases.”

The MOPC budgeted $9,397,258 for protective services in the 2025/26 fiscal year, which is 31% of the operating budget. It will also pay a mandatory contribution of $6,766,233 for education, which is 22% of the operating budget. The budget also allocates more than $800,000 for grants that benefit community groups and programs in Pictou County.

Council also approved its Capital Investment Plan at the July 7 meeting. Some capital projects included in this year’s plan are the new sidewalks in Blue Acres and work on the MacLellan’s Brook and Coalburn area water project, as well as numerous other smaller projects and upgrades throughout the county.

“It is your taxpayer dollars that pay for all these improvements, and more are always in demand,” Parker said. “Our job, as elected Councillors, is to judge very carefully which and how many projects to undertake, while at the same time being aware of ever-increasing costs of running our County. And it must always fit within an envelope that is fair to our taxpayers. Our Council pledges to try hard to be fair to all.”