{"id":9214,"date":"2025-09-25T09:25:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T12:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=9214"},"modified":"2025-09-25T09:25:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T12:25:59","slug":"queens-budget-surplus-lower-water-deficit-likely-wont-blunt-rate-hikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/09\/25\/queens-budget-surplus-lower-water-deficit-likely-wont-blunt-rate-hikes\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens budget surplus, lower water deficit likely won’t blunt rate hikes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Region of Queens Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton and Mayor Scott Christian at Tuesday’s regular council meeting. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Region of Queens is sitting on a $1.385-million surplus from last year, but Mayor Scott Christian says the news isn\u2019t as great as it may sound.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of the surplus is on the back of major capital projects that were intended, not getting complete,” he told QCCR.<\/span><\/p>\n

“So I certainly applaud our finance department and their approach in managing our organization’s finances. But we have this challenge where we\u2019re budgeting money for projects that are really important for the community and we\u2019re just not delivering in a timely way. We need to take a hard look at that and make sure that we are spending the money in the budget that\u2019s going to lead to important projects and progress for residents and for visitors in Queens County.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The region\u2019s finance director Joanne Veinotte presented the audited financial statements for 2024\/25 at Tuesday evening\u2019s council meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said the region ended the fiscal year with a surplus of $1,385,705, helped along by higher-than-expected tax revenue and returns on the region\u2019s investments. Expenses were lower because of unfilled positions and capital projects not yet finished.<\/span><\/p>\n

Veinotte also said the Region of Queens Water Utility recorded a lower-than-expected deficit – some 42 per cent less than budgeted, for a saving of almost $185,000.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even with a higher-than-expected budget surplus and a lower water utility deficit, Christian said he\u2019s not sure how that will affect the region\u2019s upcoming water rate hearing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe numbers that are driving the proposed increase to the water rate are modeling sort of well into the future,” he said. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“I can’t answer if there is good reason to go back and challenge any of the assumptions that were used in generating those projected operating expenditures on the water utility. I’m not sure yet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The municipality has requested a 106 per cent increase for most of the 1,200 customers in Liverpool and Brooklyn who are on the municipal water supply.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board hearings are scheduled for Wed., Nov. <\/span>19 at 10:30 a.m. in council chambers at the region\u2019s office.<\/span><\/p>\n

The region hired consultants G.A. Isenor and Blaine Rooney to prepare its water rate study as part of its application to the regulatory board.<\/span><\/p>\n

In documents filed on the board\u2019s website<\/a>, the regulator has asked the region for more information or clarification on 55 various points.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some are about whether the region knows if people will be able to afford the expected $348-a-year increase for most residential customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

It also asked the region to submit a revised rate study lowering the financial impact on customers and spreading it out over three years instead of imposing most of the increase in the first year.<\/span><\/p>\n

So far, there is one registered intervenor in the rate hearing. The Queens Community Health Board is concerned how the increased water expenses will affect the broader health and well-being of residents.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian said the proposed increases are important to put the water utility back on sound financial footing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to get our costs in order and run the water utility in a solvent way that’s aligned to our obligations as a water utility operator, and so the sooner that we can get our costs in order the better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even so, Veinotte told councillors on Tuesday evening that by the time the hearing happens and the regulator makes its decision, any rate increases likely won\u2019t take effect until 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

To look at all the documents filed so far as part of the region’s water rate application, use this link<\/a> and enter M12363 in the field.<\/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\/09\/rqpsurpluswaterratessept2425_2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Region of Queens is sitting on a $1.385-million surplus from last year, but Mayor Scott Christian says the news isn\u2019t as great as it may sound. \u201cI think a lot of the surplus is on the back of major capital projects that were intended, not getting complete,” he told QCCR. “So I certainly applaud […]<\/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":[3443,1245,616,1735,2987,3232,2109,1830,1374,226,3444,366],"class_list":["post-9214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-audited-financial-statements","tag-budget","tag-budget-surplus","tag-joanne-veinotte","tag-mayor-scott-christian","tag-nova-scotia-regulatory-and-appeals-board","tag-operating-budget","tag-queens-community-health-board","tag-region-of-queens-water-utility","tag-scott-christian","tag-water-rate-hearing","tag-water-rates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9214","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=9214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9219,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9214\/revisions\/9219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}