New Bothwell has launched a petition to become its own Local Urban District (LUD) within the RM of Hanover. Councillor Travis Doerksen is spearheading the petition that would see the community dictate its own electoral and administrative boundaries, set taxable mill rates, and create new positions for elected officials to more effectively govern the area.
Currently, Hanover’s municipal council allows New Bothwell to set its own operating budget using a portion of the municipality’s collected tax dollars. The amount of money available to New Bothwell is calculated based on the average mill rate of the other LUDs within the RM.
However, those living in Hanover’s LUDs currently have a lower mill rate than those living in the municipality at large.
Travis Doerksen, the RM’s councillor for the New Bothwell area, says that if the town becomes an LUD, its residents will end up with both a lower tax rate and the ability to direct those tax dollars towards the town’s immediate benefit.
“For New Bothwell, essentially, we’ve been operating like an LUD, but still using the general rural mill rate to get to our budget number,” says Doerksen. “Once you create an LUD, your members make decisions on mill rates, and your boundaries are more defined, so that decisions surrounding municipal taxation and how to apply those funds best within the boundaries of New Bothwell will all be part of the LUDs responsibilities. And the mill rates will actually likely be much lower.”
Doerksen has taken the time to provide an approximate breakdown of the mill rates in the nearby LUDs.
“Mitchell is around 5 mills, Blumenort is just above 4, Grunthal around 4.5,” he says. “And right now the rural mill rate in Hanover is 6.179. So that’s what the people of New Bothwell are being taxed at… In the end, if we would create a real LUD in New Bothwell, we would then take all of the proportioned and assessed taxes for our new boundary, and we would be able to create a budget to serve the whole community in a more targeted way.”
Becoming an LUD and paying lower taxes may seem like splitting hairs to some, or it might lead to the town having less funding overall. But for those involved in forecasting growth and change in the area, an added benefit will be to see increased control by way of an active LUD committee. This committee can then direct tax dollars toward community services, essential maintenance, and development.
“In an LUD, your own community members from your own town make the decisions for today, tomorrow, and the future,” Doerksen says. “When your local councillor sits on the LUD, which reports to but meets separately from the larger Hanover council, you start to see real progress. So from road repair to grass mowing, to community future development and capital planning, it keeps the local flavour in the community. You have real people from your community making those decisions.”
Working on behalf of New Bothwell’s future is Doerksen’s passion, but he admits that he would welcome the help of a local LUD committee to create momentum for growth.
“Another benefit to becoming an LUD is to just bring in more energy,” he adds. “Two heads are better than one; two or three voices are better than one. When there are needs to be addressed, a group of people has a better ability to brainstorm and find solutions than just one person making decisions.”
Doerksen acknowledges this is an ambitious initiative for New Bothwell, especially considering this is his first term in local politics. But it helps that Kleefeld is pursuing the same initiative.
“I was newly elected in 2018, but [the LUD proposal] has been a thought of mine for quite some time,” he says. “With the recent developments both New Bothwell and Kleefeld over the last few years, and the growth being proposed in the future, it just makes sense to have these new committees to help guide the decisions.”
Local business owner Elle Funk is supportive of Doerksen’s initiative. She runs New B’s Café on Crown Valley Road, right in the heart of the community, and sees the benefits it would bring to both residents and businesses.
Funk is excited about the prospect of the town having more control over its road, snow-clearing, pedestrian crossings, infrastructure, and beautification.
“Before all this, I didn’t know much about how our taxes are calculated and used,” Funk says. “I didn’t understand what an LUD does. Asking questions of our councillors has been very helpful.”
Funk sees the prospect of increased commercial development as being an especially important consideration for the town—and she certainly isn’t concerned about the potential for competition for her business.
“No, I think there will only be greater support for local businesses if we grow,” says Funk, who anticipates that more business would bring in more taxes that could be spent in town. “There will be more people interested in participating in town and spending dollars in town… This is a positive step for community growth and a positive step for our community in general. I don’t see a downside to this step at all.”
Doerksen says that commercial development is a big motivating factor for him. One of his goals as a councillor is to help bring more businesses to the community.
“It helps the residents here to have services that are closer to them,” he explains. “It increases tax dollars right here for our community, and we all know that when we work together and pitch in together, we can have more community benefits.”
The community needs a total of 201 resident signatures before the end of the year to form a petition. It will then be submitted to the municipality, who will bring up the issue with the province. Provincial certification is required before a new LUD committee could be formed.
Doerksen says that the RM of Hanover is supportive of the initiative.
“They are excited for us and for our community,” he says. “We have five rural communities within our one municipality, and that’s quite a few compared to other municipalities. This makes us very unique. It makes us appreciate our differences. The very different events and community flavours are all very specific to our areas.”
To sign the petition, residents can visit various locations around New Bothwell, including at the post office and New B’s Café. A door-to-door campaign is also being contemplated.
Due to social distancing right now, communicating about the LUD initiative and securing signatures has so far been very challenging.
“At each location where there is a petition form, there is an information packet and a map, and some Q-and-A’s to help answer the questions people may have about LUDs,” says Doerksen. “It’s very tough in these times to not to be able to bring people together for a town hall meeting or an info session. But we’re doing what we can through our website, through social media, through the New Bothwell Facebook page, and word of mouth. We are trying to do our best in communicating to as many people as we can.”
He says that an informational package will be mailed to all New Bothwell residents on November.
In the meantime, the campaign has been gaining signatures steadily.
“We’re in the very beginning stages of this. It hasn’t even been out a week and I think we’re at about 20 to 30 signatures, but we need more,” says Doerksen. “Any eligible voter can sign, and that means anyone aged 18 and over and living in the eligible area of the proposed LUD, which you will see on the map with the petitions. Whether you rent or own in our area, you can sign the petition.”
Elle Funk invites anyone interested in the LUD initiative to come see the materials at New B’s Café and sign the petition.
“We, as New Bothwell, need these signatures,” she says. “If you live in the community, I think this is an important thing to do. Just come out and sign it.”