{"id":8508,"date":"2025-03-28T10:30:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T13:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=8508"},"modified":"2025-03-28T10:31:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T13:31:31","slug":"region-of-queens-budget-talks-delayed-while-community-groups-seek-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/03\/28\/region-of-queens-budget-talks-delayed-while-community-groups-seek-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Region of Queens budget talks delayed, while community groups seek help"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tara Druzina, representing the Queens County Food Bank, speaks to Region of Queens councillors at their regular meeting on Tuesday. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Region of Queens will again be late setting its budget, though councillors hope to begin deliberations soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Scott Christian said this week that recent turnover in senior management has contributed to the delay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a challenge,” he said in remarks during council’s regular meeting on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The organization has gone through significant churn within the senior management levels and we’re seeking to improve the organization, the functions in the organization to ensure that we can govern in ways that are accountable and transparent and engaging for our residents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Councillors fired CAO Cody Joudry in December, and the region terminated the employment of municipal clerk Pam Lovelace at the beginning of March, three months after she was hired.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At their regular meeting this week, councillors approved interim spending limits until the 2025\/26 budget is set.<\/span><\/p>\n

Municipalities are expected to finalize their budgets by the end of March each year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The region was also late last year with their budget talks, beginning the process in early April.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian told QCCR after the meeting that another reason for the delay is that the municipality is waiting for results of its water rate study, which will set charges for the region\u2019s 1,400 water utility customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said they\u2019ll notify the public as soon as budget deliberations begin.<\/span><\/p>\n

When they do, councillors are facing some challenges in a region with some of the highest poverty rates in Nova Scotia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Officials with the Queens County Food Bank appealed to councillors this week to consider granting the group $15,500 in an annual rent subsidy for the next four years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the food bank was forced out of a derelict municipal property in 2019 and began leasing space on Main Street, it paid no rent. But demand for their services has grown, as food costs have risen and donations have plummeted by about 50 per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just recently, the food bank was hit with a $10,000 repair bill on its two-year-old walk-in freezer. And it has committed to begin food pantries for elementary and high school students throughout the county, said <\/span>Tara Druzina, the fundraising lead for the food bank.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis highlights how the food bank constantly adapts for emergency community needs, not just providing food every Tuesday, but ensuring that vital support reaches the most vulnerable when and where needed,” she told councillors.<\/span><\/p>\n

“These challenges illustrate why stable operational funding is critical. Without it, the food bank cannot effectively respond to growing community needs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shelly Panczyk, chairperson of the food bank, said their client list has grown by about 30 per cent in the past few years, while the organization\u2019s food costs have ballooned to $6,000 a month.<\/span><\/p>\n

She says the rent subsidy is something the region provided in the past, by giving the food bank rent-free space in one of its buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood is not all donated. \u2029So most of our food is bought, even though we get a truck from Feed Nova Scotia every Monday, but that’s mostly produce. But most everything else, all our canned goods and all our staples have to be bought.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She says revenue from its thrift store has helped with those increased expenses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been lucky the last four years we\u2019ve had the thrift store open, but that can change at any time and that\u2019s where most of our money comes from.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Scott Christian said he didn\u2019t want to predict how budget deliberations will go, but he acknowledged the role of local governments is becoming more complex.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an incredible amount of need in our community that we have to look at and just on balance with the pressure that puts on the ratepayer. I think all municipalities (face) significant pressure and competing priorities to figure out what to do with the limited available resources.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/councilbudgetfoodbank2mar2725.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Region of Queens will again be late setting its budget, though councillors hope to begin deliberations soon. Mayor Scott Christian said this week that recent turnover in senior management has contributed to the delay.\u00a0 \u201cIt has been a challenge,” he said in remarks during council’s regular meeting on Tuesday. “The organization has gone through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[1245,2986,2987,2984,156,24,1574,2985,226,539,2983],"class_list":["post-8508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-budget","tag-budget-talks","tag-mayor-scott-christian","tag-municipal-budgets","tag-queens-county-food-bank","tag-region-of-queens","tag-regional-council","tag-rent-subsidy","tag-scott-christian","tag-shelly-panczyk","tag-tara-druzina"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8508"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8512,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8508\/revisions\/8512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}