Concerns over Murray Harbour finances aired in heated meeting

A public meeting was held Wednesday night in the eastern P.E.I. community of Murray Harbour in an effort to calm concerns over the village's finances.

The finances have recently been the subject of debates on social media. About 50 Murray Harbour residents attended the meeting.

Chief administrative officer Sylvain De Lafontaine said there's never been money missing or unaccounted for in the village.

"Money is all there, whether it's in capital assets or in another way, all the money is still there," said De Lafontaine.

Infrastructure projects led to debt, says CAO

The CAO said the village is dealing with a debt of $40,000. Spending on town projects, he said, including the extension to Murray Harbour Community Centre contributed to the debt.

"The consequence of that was that we have a long-term debt that we now have to repay, which puts the community in quite a bad financial position," he said.

Some of the confusion in the community had to do with funds De Lafontaine said were borrowed from the Gas Tax Fund, which had to be reimbursed last spring.

In a written statement handed out at the meeting the vice-chair of the village, Shawn Landon, wrote that "false accusations, mud-slinging and the like," began after people learned that funds had been moved from the sewage utility to replenish the Gas Tax Fund.

However Landon concluded in his statement, "I am satisfied with the findings of our accountants, namely that a) there was no wrongdoing with this overspend b) it began in 2012 through 2015 and c) the village as a whole was the beneficiary of these funds."

The village is audited annually and recently brought in the auditors again to help clarify the situation, said De Lafontaine.

"The money wasn't taken. The money was overspent," he said.

Further audit being considered

Murray Harbour council chair Garry Herring told the meeting he wants a deeper audit, one that would go through every receipt.

"Come March 1st, if we can't satisfy everyone in this room and the taxpayers, then I'm going to be putting a motion through to do an external audit."

De Lafontaine said the budget hasn't been done for 2017 yet. He expects it to be very tight, but still balanced.

He said a solution to the financial woes of the village would be amalgamation to have a larger tax base. The village's AGM is scheduled for March 29 and the budget will be presented then.

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