Unaccommodating
It didn’t have to be this way. It needn’t have been controversial at all. Shire Hall might have avoided much of the blowback heading its way, had it simply managed the introduction of a Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) with little less urgency and a truckload more professionalism. (I must inform my readers that I am […]
To the MAT
The County’s economy seems a robust thing. A strong and increasingly diverse agricultural base. A vibrant visitor economy that draws folks from around the world. And a humming service and supply economy that supports both. (We would have a thriving new home building economy too, but for lingering systemic, regulatory and cultural impediments that make […]
Accommodation
I understand why our Prime Minister would prefer to be in Barbados this week. The challenges to which he is returning may be without remedy. In a matter of a few days, a seemingly internecine dispute over who speaks for some Indigenous folks in British Columbia has escalated into a full-on crisis bearing the charming […]
After denial
Perhaps the most encouraging words uttered during the three days of budget deliberations, a week and a bit ago, came from the County’s new CAO Marcia Wallace. Several times the County manager advised council against throwing more money into a hole, where it would surely be absorbed, and instead work with her to prepare a […]
So close
It was a budget week like no other in Prince Edward County. With a brand-new star quarterback in the form of Chief Administrative Officer Marcia Wallace guiding the team, Shire Hall marched down the field toward the goal line. Then at the one-yard line, with victory just inches away, council took the ball from their […]
One way or another
THE GOOD NEWS The budget Shire Hall presented this week does not propose an increase to the tax levy. This is a remarkable first in the history of this amalgamated County. Things, of course, may change in the next few days—council only put their hands on the draft this week, and some may seize this […]
Orientation
How do you know what you know? It is a question an acquaintance poses to her first-year students in the international studies class she teaches at Oxford University each semester. It is a rabbit hole of a question that is more bluntly stated as: What do you actually know about the things you think you […]
Masterful
Town hall meetings seem like a good idea—vox populi, democracy in person and all that—but rarely are they worthwhile experiences. At least, that has been my experience attending dozens of such complaint- driven gatherings over the better part of two decades. Like sidewalk sausage carts, the idea is immensely more attractive than the actual product. […]
Broken
There was a day not so long ago when young, ambitious people fled unaffordable cities to communities like this one in search of opportunity—and an affordable future. One in which they could expand their skills, climb the economic ladder and build a family. Over the past two decades, however, Prince Edward County has closed this […]
Unfettered
So that is it. Shire Hall needs the money. The province says it can take it. So, Shire Hall is taking it. No meaningful consultation. No process. Just a headlong rush to grab a share of the cash flow from local businesses. Because it can. Council agreed last week—unanimously—to ram through a new Municipal Accommodation […]