Local Government

Factors of location and scale are important in deter- mining the success and quality of community life in Souris generally. Many towns and villages in Prince Edward Island with roughly comparable populations are situated near larger centres, or actually adjoin them, as in the case of the Charlottetown and Summerside sub- urbs; in consequence their citizens tend to derive their identity from the bigger community and look to it for many of their services. Souris, to its benefit, is on its own and has developed a considerable degree of self- reliance.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the success of the institutions of local government in the town. Most years, for example, candidates for the office of mayor, and the six councillors’ seats, are not difficult to find, and a high percentage of the eligible voters usually turns out to cast their ballots in the civic elections. Those elected serve two year terms. Once in office the councillors enjoy a life of lively interaction with their constituents, and it is a not uncommon sight to see an eager citizen agitated by his neighbour’s dog, or the pot hole in the street outside his residence, buttonholing his elected representative on a Main Street sidewalk. The affairs of the town are not left to the councillors, but are everybody’s business.

The Town Council meets twice a month in its chambers in the Town Hall. lt administered a budget in 1980 in excess of $300,000. Revenue is derived from municipal taxation ($96,000), provincial grants ($59,000), and fines ($17,000). The balance is made up from projects and programs in which the town enters into cost-sharing arrangements with the federal and provincial levels of government. Most of the Council's expenditures are for street paving, lighting, and storm drains. An independent fund has been set up to provide for water and sewage systems, but rates have been set to cover the costs of the maintenance, and debt amortization, of this service.

Souris is a compact community, with a close density of buildings. This feature helps to lower the costs of many services, such as roads and sewers. On the other hand, with a population of only 1500, the number of households in the town is not large, and this creates an upward pressure on the tax rate. At the present time the residential property tax is 70 cents per $100 of assessed property value, and the commercial rate is $1.70 per $100. These municipal taxes, like all such levies in Prince Edward Island, are based on a property assessment car- ried out by the provincial government, which collects the tax — together with a property tax of its own — on behalf of the municipality.

Included in the high level of services provided tax payers by the town of Souris is fire protection. A volunteer fire department, consisting of a chief and twenty firemen, operates from a central fire station sup- plied with four fire trucks, including a new fully-equipped

14

The Souris sewage treatment plant, one o! the most modern in the Maritime Provinces.

vehicle purchased in 1980. The fire station also houses a provincial forestry fire truck designed to protect nearby communities from forest fires. The inhabitants of these rural districts, either individually or collectively, also con- tribute to the support of the Souris fire department. When a fire alarm is phoned in (687-2211) the chief and his volunteers will have a hose connected up to one of the many fire hydrants in the town and water playing on a flame within eight minutes. This is a comforting thought for the citizens of Souris, and it also represents a direct cost saving to them, for it lowers the premiums they pay for fire insurance.

In 1979 the town acquired a sewage treatment plant at a cost of $300,000, guaranteeing its citizens both good drinking water and an unpolluted water-table. The plant was designed to meet the present needs of the town and a 20% future growth in usage. The town also has a chlorinated water supply, which is monitored regularly to make sure that health standards are met. The provision of these services enables Souris to welcome new hous- ing and industrial growth without creating anxiety about sewage waste infringing upon the community’s well- being. At the same time, individuals are enabled to save on new construction costs for drilling wells, or burying septic tanks; all they have to do is connect with the water and sewage lines already In place.

Most Souris streets and roadways are paved and in good condition. The town also has many sidewalks, although some of the side streets laid out before the advent of motor traffic are too narrow to adapt to the construction of sidewalks. Each year the town budgets for new paving, and in 1980 $50,000 will be spent in this way. The town owns and operates its own snow-clearing equipment, and except for those roadways which are part of the provincial highway system, all streets and roadways are efficiently cleared after every snowfall by the town. The province is equally conscientious in clearing its own thoroughfares. The town has a good network of ditches and storm drain basins, and run off from the watershed area north of the town, as well as from streets and roofs, is ef- ficiently arteried through the town to its eventual exit in Colville Bay. This system prevents seepage into base-