The Village of St. Pierre is looking to purchase the vacant Manitoba Hydro building in St. Pierre to then have their municipal office and Public Works building under one roof.

Council held a public meeting last night to present the proposal to the community and hear any concerns or objections they may have. Mayor Mona Fallis explains both of their current facilities are getting older and aren't large enough for what they need. She notes they've set out a maximum budget for the project at 550,000 dollars, about 400,000 of which for the purchase of the new building and the remainder for renovations to set up their office spaces. Fallis says they only anticipate renovations to cost between 50,000 and 75,000 dollars but adds they budgeted for more just as a maximum. She explains what the plan is to pay for this project.

"We have our public works shop that we will sell, we have the municipal office that we will sell and that is all offices so if we can't sell right away, we can rent it out as rental units for offices and then we did set some money aside that we get from the Bipole (three) funding that we receive that will pay for a significant chunk of the expenses."

Meanwhile, Luc Peloquin, a property owner in St. Pierre, has some concerns regarding how this will affect taxpayers.

"I think that major concern is that we live in a town where our tax base is a little bit on the high side, it's not just an opinion it's a fact and I just want to make sure that the decisions that are made are made with that in mind. I don't want to see our town go with a higher tax base, I think that we're high enough."

Fallis adds the project would cost a property owner with a home valued at 100,000 dollars, about 111 dollars per year but that is only if the funding wouldn't be in place and if they would have to take out a loan for the entire project. In the end, she notes they don't anticipate a big impact on taxpayers.

"That's our plan, that it will not impact the taxpayers significantly or very minimally if at all. We've put a budget together on the purchase of the building, the renovations, the sales of the public works yard and our municipal office, and our reserve for a building that we already have."

Fallis notes if council decides to go ahead with the purchase, they hope to take possession of the new building sometime in April and move-in come fall of this year.