Protest Rocks Cumberland Municipal Council

The Municipality of Cumberland was overwhelmed tonight as a large delegation from Parrsboro filled the council chamber to protest a recent, dramatic hike in sewer charges.

Complaints started to snowball after residents of the former town received their 2019 tax bills and found a new and unexpected bill for $957 to cover costs of expansion and improvements to the community sewer system.

Warden Al Gillis said council anticipated their concerns and introduced Andrew MacDonald, the Director of Finance, who began to walk them through the background of the issue and some solutions staff offered to council for consideration.

However, the crowd did not want the detailed background, they wanted to vent their frustration. MacDonald was repeatedly interrupted during his presentation, leading the Warden to pound his gavel demanding order.

Further angered by the thought that council had already decided without hearing from them, questions and pointed comments flew from all corners of the chamber.

At one point the police were called and three RCMP officers arrived, though they stayed outside the chamber while the unruly dialogue continued.

At issue was a complete breakdown in communications. Residents of Parrsboro were well aware of the need for a sewage treatment facility with early cost estimates over eight million dollars. However, they were not aware that funding commitments from the province were conditional on expanding the system to reach 80 percent of residents.

When tenders were finally received, the actual cost of the project was about 12.7 million. Without any other dialogue with the community, the project went forward. It was only when the tax bills arrived that people came to grips with what happened.

One resident argued that Parrsboro gave up its town status because it could not handle its debt. The man argued that the cost of the new sewer system put the community in greater debt than they faced earlier.

A woman yelled that some residents fear they will have to surrender their homes to the bank because the weight of taxes would make it impossible to sell their homes.

It was tense and emotional. The normal order of council and the process to deal with concerns became lost in the turmoil.

One man asked why the council did not come back to the community to discuss and perhaps revise the project when the costs ballooned out of proportion.

While people were still yelling out questions, council voted to approve an eleven step plan to reduce the current bills, re-establish a policy for those who are not hooked to the system, and seek funding assistance from higher levels of government.

People booed. They yelled “you are not listening to us,” and “you already had your minds made up.”

Deputy Warden Joe Van Vulpen received a round of applause when he agreed the issue was badly handled and he apologized. But he also emphasized that council was proposing a short term solution while looking for longer-term solutions.

The eleven step plan includes:

1. Base Parrsboro’s per unit sewer charge calculation on the previous year's budget, resulting in the deferral of approximately $357,000 
2. Assess properties in the existing service area at the same unit value as the previous year 
3. Assess unit values to properties with buildings in the expanded service area only if hooked-up at time of billing 
4. Revise Parrsboro 2019/20 per unit sewer charge from $957 to $575 
5. Continue to charge a flat rate of $50 for vacant land and buildings not connected in the existing and new service areas 
6. Request financial assistance from Municipal Affairs re: debt costs resulting from market value increase of construction over the original budget
7. Develop a capital funding policy to identify how future infrastructure projects are to be funded 
8. Develop a communications and public engagement strategy for future infrastructure projects 
9. Develop one by-law for all county-owned sewer systems
10. Reassess all sewer system service areas based on revised by-law 
11. Advise property owners in writing of their sewer assessment and appeal process by December 31st, 2019 

While the plan reduces the bills today, the debt is simply deferred and without new funding from Ottawa or the province, ratepayers of the Parrsboro sewer system fear tomorrow’s invoices.

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1 comments on article "Protest Rocks Cumberland Municipal Council"

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Adam Davies

It is odd to be talking about developing a Capital Funding Policy when the Multi-Year Capital Planning Policy was decided at the beginning of this year and the work for both policies should have been simultaneously done. Equally odd that communication and engagement - which is at the root of this mess - should appear so far down the list. Like so many others levels of government, county council has yet to learn how to talk to the people who have elected it.

6/20/2019 9:55 AM

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