New BrunswickWith a series of unanimous votes Thursday, Moncton council approved a 2026 budget that maintains the tax rate.Riverview, Dieppe also consider budgets without 15 RCMP officers sought by police boardShane Magee · CBC News · Posted: Nov 06, 2025 1:55 PM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Jacques Doucet, Moncton’s general manager of finance services, speaking at a city budget meeting Tuesday. (Shane Magee/CBC)Moncton council cast a series of unanimous votes Thursday morning to approve the city’s 2026 budget.Councillors voted to approve a $236 million operating budget, a $92 million capital budget and a $47.8 million utility budget.Jacques Doucet, the city’s general manager of finance services, told reporters it was a positive budget. The budget holds the tax rate for most of the city at $1.3614 per $100 of assessed value. Areas amalgamated with the city in 2023 will see the tax rate held at $0.9908 per $100 of assessment.”By maintaining the tax rate, along with the provincial assessment freeze, means that most residents and commercial businesses in our city will not see an increase in property taxes for the following year,” Doucet said. “We were able to do that [and] also invest in many strategic areas in our city.”Deputy Mayor Paulette Thériault, the city’s acting mayor since Dawn Arnold’s appointment to the senate in March, appeared to choke up after the budget was approved. She said it was her final budget because she’s not running again in the spring election. She told reporters she was happy with the budget.”The citizens are going through so much,” Thériault said. “If we can at least hold the tax rate, that’s a good thing.”The operating budget adds firefighters, the first significant increase in staffing levels in decades, to address recommendations from a review of the fire department. Paulette Thériault, the acting mayor, said the budget would be her last on council as she won’t be running again. (Shane Magee/CBC)The capital budget includes money to replace Codiac Transpo buses, rebuild St. George Street between Gordon and Cameron streets as part of a multi-phase plan, build a new east-west street in the Humphreys Brook area from Durelle Street to Harrisville Boulevard, and design work to expand the Codiac Transpo garage.The budget also includes $500,000 to purchase land for a park in the Vision Lands, which is an undeveloped part of the city between Wheeler Boulevard and the Trans-Canada Highway.On Thursday, councillors voted to boost spending by $250,000 to $750,000 for traffic calming on city streets. The money next year will come from a council contingency fund.City staff said the program that adds things like speed bumps or raised crosswalks to slow drivers has been popular. René Lagacé, the city’s director of engineering, said the $500,000 that was budgeted would see small sections of long roads, such as Ryan Street and Highlandview Drive, done in 2026. Lagacé said the increase Coun. Paul Richard sought would allow more to be done next year.”We have to slow some people down, they’re flying down our street,” Richard said when proposing the increase.The budget includes $1 million for the first phase of active transportation projects along the Morton and Connaught avenues corridor. It’s an area where cyclists have been hit by drivers, and advocates want improved.Councillors voted Tuesday to reject the Codiac Regional Policing Authority’s request to add 15 more officers in 2026. The amount Moncton will spend on policing will still rise to $43 million because of other rising costs. Dozens of RCMP positions vacantCouncillors were told Tuesday that while 17 officers were approved to be added in 2025, only 14 of the roles had been filled so far and that those officers had already been working at Codiac in other roles. That created 14 vacancies within Codiac that still need to be filled.Codiac RCMP Supt. Benoit Jolette said the force that polices Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview has about 30 vacant positions.On Wednesday, Riverview town council debated its budget, which would also hold the tax rate at $1.3826 per $100 of assessed value. The town plans a $43 million operating budget and a capital budget of $43.5 million. The town is expected to ratify the budget Nov. 10.Andrew LeBlanc, the town’s mayor, posted on Facebook that the budget has zero new RCMP officers, like Moncton, because requested crime data hadn’t been provided.The policing authority “chose not to honour the request,” LeBlanc posted.”The RCMP themselves stated they can only justify 4 new officers based on population growth and so without a business case or impact data, we are not prepared to hand over more taxpayer dollars when we can’t show that the investment will lower the crime rate of what impact it will have.”Dieppe’s budget also doesn’t include the 15 officers the policing authority requested. Dieppe council is expected to vote on its budget Nov. 24.ABOUT THE AUTHORShane Magee is a Moncton-based reporter for CBC News.
Moncton OK’s budget that holds tax rate steady
