Municipal Water customers in Queens will see compensation for a boil water advisory that lasted almost nine weeks. The Region of Queens applied to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (UARB) and was approved to provide a one-time 70 percent rate reduction to be applied to the current water bill. Municipal water customers had to boil their water after lightning struck the water treatment plant, damaging essential equipment on Aug 7. In their decision, the UARB says the boil-water advisory was reasonable and beyond the control of the water utility. The decision stated they saw no other way to ensure the safety of the drinking water. Mayor Darlene Norman says she is pleased with the review board’s decision. “We were given what we asked and also noted that we did what was expected to ensure consumers safety,” said Norman. Region of Queens estimates the approved one-time rate reduction will cost the utility $56,000 which will come from an unused water reserve fund initially intended to provide sediment removal. To hear the broadcast version of this story click play below. E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

Tax decreases across Queens highlight this year’s budget.

At the most recent Region of Queens Council meeting a budget was tabled containing a three cent per $100 assessment drop for residential and commercial property owners in Queens.

Properties in Liverpool will now pay $1.93 per $100 residential and $3.03 per $100 commercial rates.

Outside Liverpool the amounts range from $1.07 residential to $2.17 commercial unless the property is in Brooklyn.

Property owners there add six cents to cover a four and a half cent area rate for the recreation centre and one and a half cents for the cemetery.

Mayor Darlene Norman says following an increase in assessments council wanted to provide some relief to property owners.

“Assessments went up somewhat and the council and staff that there’s a lot of things that happened last year and they weren’t going to happen again but yet there’s room for new things and with the increase we were able to put forward a progressive budget,” said Norman.

An area that saw a dramatic increase was water bills.

Council had already approved a base rate increase of 19 percent and 33 percent for consumption over the next three years.

Norman says the first water rate increase in 18 years will bring the municipality in line with what comparable regions across the province are charging.

“The water people who did our study for the UARB (Nova Scotia Utility and Revue Board), said good municipalities have, every year or every so many years, just a little slight increase so you don’t get something like this happening,” said Norman.

The Queens Community Aquatic Society made a presentation to council regarding the construction of a new outdoor pool.

Norman says council will take time to review those materials before deciding how or if they will move ahead with the proposal.

Later in the agenda council voted to repeal the Region’s vaccine mandate policy to align with the recently lifted provincial COVID restrictions.

They also discussed the composition of the steering team who will lead the development of the new library.

The six-member group will include two people from South Shore Public Libraries, two members of the library board and two library users.

A request from the Queens County Historical Society to repaint two prominent murals located on buildings in Liverpool will come back for discussion at the next council meeting.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.