Batter said there is a charge on every residents bill called the “five percent municipal surcharge,” which used to be remitted back to the city but, will now just be collected by the province. Bater added the province signed a contract, which dates back to 1956, obligating it give the money back to municipalities.

“We want to work with the province to come to a reasonable solution,” Bater said. “Litigation is clearly an option that needs to be considered if it gets that far. Our hope is that there was a mistake made and perhaps the province didn’t consider this fully when they implemented it… These are old contracts. They got back to the 1950’s and there are no clauses that say the funds are subject to the provincial budget at all.”

Council went as far as passing a motion stating it is prepared to take legal action as a last means of reversing the decision by the province.

In the interim, there is still the $2 million in cuts that have to be made and according to Bater, everything is on the table.

“Well it has to be on the table we can’t run a deficit,” Bater said. “That isn’t a luxury a municipality has. The province can do that, the federal government can do that but, we can’t… We have two solutions. We either increase property tax or we cut programs and services. Those are the only two options available to us.”

Bater said in order to cover the entire amount, the city would have to raise property tax an additional 15 per cent on top of the three per cent already being implemented in this year’s budget.

When it comes to programs and services, administration gave an example the Aquatic Centre and Field House requires roughly $1.1 million in funding per year alone.

“We do have a good team here on council and I have a lot of confidence in administration to present us with options but they are not going to be easy,” Bater said. “The province puts us in a very difficult spot here. We are having to be the messenger for their bad news.”

Greg.higgins@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @realgreghiggins.