Christiansburg Town Councilman Dan Canada said Wednesday he's pulling his name off the ballot for the upcoming council election.

"It was a very tough decision," the 57-year-old Canada said, adding that the past 18 months on the council and the nine years on the planning commission before that have been "extremely rewarding."

"One of the things I wanted to do was give back to the community," he said. "The process of seeing how land use comes about in the community, the experience of working on the comprehensive plan with the planning commission have been rewarding. I feel blessed to have been able to serve."

Canada, who is the state operations manager for Marshall Concrete Products, a division of Chandler Concrete of Virginia, said the decision to withdraw from the race boiled down to setting priorities.

"My mom and my family are my main priority now," he said.

Canada said his 82-year-old mother has dementia and has been ill in recent months. Although she is showing improvement, the councilman said he wants to make the most of the time he has with her, as well as his two young granddaughters.

"When they're grown, it's too late," he said. "You have to spend time when you can."

Canada said having such a large pool of candidates for the election -- six are now vying for three seats -- made the decision a bit easier.

"We've got some real good candidates," he said. "On the council, I think there's an excellent mix of independent thinkers."

In addition to incumbents Mike Barber and Steve Huppert, challengers Jim Vanhoozier, Sam Bishop, Bill Chafin and Henry Showalter remain in the race.

"Dan has served the town of Christiansburg well for a lot of years. He's been an asset," said Barber, who is serving his eighth year as a councilman.

Canada, who was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Richard Ballengee in 2006 after Ballengee was elected mayor, became known for his stance against raising town real estate taxes. He and Ballengee butted heads during June's budget discussions.

When a tax increase was proposed then, Ballengee supported it, saying the town needed more money in reserve to cover unforeseen circumstances. But Canada disagreed, saying there are other ways to raise town revenues, such as food, lodging, entertainment or users taxes.

"You're saying we should take the people's money and put it in our bank account rather than allow them to put it in their bank account," he argued. "It's a tax increase that's clearly not needed."

"I'm going to continue to champion that," Canada said Wednesday. "I haven't seen a budget yet, but I'm hoping we're successful and have a zero increase this year. That's my goal."

Although the election is May 6, he will keep his seat on the council until Sept. 1 when the newly elected council member steps in. Meanwhile, the budget discussions are ready to begin.