Community Engagement Sessions - Region of Queens Collection of Road Maintenance Fees

We have long been advocating and requesting support from the Region of Queens Municipality to assist in the collection of our road fees as part of the annual property tax process.

A series of community engagement sessions will be hosted by the Region of Queens Municipality, and have been scheduled for property owners on private roads in Queens County.  Region of Queens Municipality is considering collecting road maintenance fees on behalf of registered private road lot owners’ associations and adding those fees to Municipal tax bills. The Municipality has been approached by lot owners’ associations who have requested this be considered, and those fees would be paid to the associations by the Municipality.

The sessions will be held between August 20 and August 28, 2024, with in-person and virtual sessions scheduled: https://www.regionofqueens.com/community-engagement-sessions/ 

Please follow the above link, register for the appropriate session, and voice your support for this initiative! We look forward to seeing you there.

For more detail on the benefits we're looking forward to realizing through this iniativive, please read the below excerpt from a Presidents Address at a previous AGM:

__________________________

Many municipalities such as Lunenburg County, and Halifax Regional Municipality, offer the opportunity for road ownership associations to engage them to levy annual road association dues as part of the annual property tax bill. In these arrangements, the road ownership association receives the dues from the region or municipality that are required to maintain services for members.

For as long as I have been involved with the board, this has been one of the goals we’ve been working towards with the Region of Queens Municipality, and I am happy to share the progress we are making towards that goal.

We believe this support from Queens will be very beneficial to our association, and all of us as property owners in this area. The efficiencies that will be gained will reduce our cost of administration, allowing us to put more money towards services for all members. For example, currently when a property changes hands, we are always playing catch up to maintain our records and ensure we’re billing the correct owner. In the new world, this will be automatically taken care of through the region's tax billing processes.

Despite the efforts of the board, we still have 15-20% of members who are not paying their dues and contributing to the services they are benefiting from. One of the most material benefits will be increased collection based on stronger recourse from the region of Queens. These increased dues collected will go directly to services for all members, increasing the quality of our infrastructure, and values of our properties.

For each of us, this will also make our lives a bit easier by only having one bill to pay each year. If anyone has their tax bill wrapped into their mortgage, this will be handed in the same manner.

We have long asked for more support and services from the Region of Queens for our tax dollars. I want to thank Councilor Dave Brown, and the CAO and staff of the region for the collaborative approach in working towards this mutually beneficial relationship.