Resident says cost of property purchases should be made public

Members of the new town council vowed during the recent election campaign to be more open and accountable and a local resident is hoping that promise will be kept, particularly when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars.
Geoff Martin, a Sackville resident and part-time political science professor at Mount Allison University, said he has had concerns over the previous town council's refusal to reveal the price tag of land purchases.
Although the town is not legally required to disclose the price it pays for a property, Martin said he believes it would give the public more confidence in their town officials to do so. Then it would be up to the taxpayers to decide whether the purchase was justified.
"I don't think it's in anyone's best interest to keep this kind of information so close to their vest. It breeds a lot of skepticism," he said.
Town council has followed proper procedure over the past few years for their land transactions, according to New Brunswick's Municipalities Act, including passing a motion at a public council meeting to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer to proceed with the land deals.
The details of those deals have usually been discussed during closed-door sessions, an acceptable practice.
Martin said, however, these motions don't give the public much information about how their money was spent.
"I think they should disclose the cost to the public and then have someone on the council extol the virtues of the purchase. No one is communicating to the public how valuable it is . . . but when we make a decision, we need to justify it and explain it."
Martin cites the town's purchase of two properties in the industrial park last year as an example.
Although the council confirmed at the time it had bought the two side-by-side lots totaling about 25 acres, later revealing the property would be used for a new business park, the price tag was never disclosed.
More recently, town council closed the deal on two pieces of property along Main Street which are expected to be used for the proposed RCMP/fire station. The cost is being kept secret, but rumours have been swirling throughout the community in the past two weeks about how much money was spent from the town coffers for the lots.
"It might ultimately be a good price but we really don't know because we're left in the dark," said Martin. "This is a very fresh illustration of how I hope things will change."