There’s a hole in our bucket
Council pushes waterworks rates sharply higher with more increases to come It was just over four years ago the County imposed steep increases to water and wastewater bills. The municipality had just opened a $30 million sewage treatment plant on the escarpment overlooking Picton. It was staring at the prospect of replacing many of the town’s leaking […]
Five days long
A new council takes a studious and, at times, creative look at 2015 budget After a long, hard week of deliberation, council arrived not very far from where they started. The tax levy remains at $31 million, pretty much where it began five days earlier. Yet the journey has surely yielded a better understanding of the workings […]
Ice money
Province drags feet, but promised funding is in the works This week is the anniversary of a massive storm that coated much of southern Ontario in a thick sheet of ice, causing extensive damage to roads, trees, homes and hydro lines throughout the province. In Prince Edward County alone, the damages are estimated to be […]
Hard numbers
Building reserves given priority over cutting taxes With the oath of office still fresh in their minds, the new County council sat down this week to begin poring over the draft budget for 2015. For the first time ever, the proposed tax levy has crested $31 million—more than three times the amount extracted from County […]
From the courtroom
Day one of Ontario Appeal Court hearing into Ostrander Point industrial wind turbine project Report by Garth Manning An aggregation of advocates (12 altogether) and a blizzard of paper, stacked well over a foot tall in front of each lawyer and judge, faced Justices Eleanore A. Cronk, chair, Gloria J Epstein and Russell G. Juriansz in […]
Driven to give
The Storehouse Foodbank gets ready for the holidays Christmas is coming, and people are opening their hearts and their pantries for the Storehouse food bank. The food bank has identified 129 children in Wellington, Hillier or Ameliasburgh whose parents need a little help bringing Santa to their homes. Each child is represented by paper angel […]
Aiming high
Richard Karlo leaves a legacy of craft, preserved heritage and passion Richard Karlo was raised with an appreciation for fine wine. His dad, Len, was raised in Estonia, but during WWII, the Russians moved in and all the young men where sent off to labour camps in northern Russia. Len was able to join the Polish army, […]
While we can
Drew MacCandlish lived an inspired life Drew MacCandlish returned to the West Island of Montreal last month. It was where he was born, 55 years ago. He died there last Wednesday. He wasn’t going home to die, he said. Rather he was going home to live. He wasn’t interested, in those last days, in making plans […]
Opening doors
The County is a magical place It started with a door. A strange, tiny door. It magically appeared in the boulder on the front yard of the McFaul residence in Bloomfield. Mallory, eight, and her little brother, Seamus, six, were mystified. So together with their mother, Louise, they took to Google. As it turns out, […]
‘Fight of our lives’
Another QHC deficit threatens Picton hospital Quinte Health Care (QHC) appears set to eliminate endoscopic services (a screening technique in which a physician inserts a probe into the patient) from Picton, moving them to Belleville, as it seeks to cut costs in an attempt to balance its budget. If that happens, it will be just […]