Payments issued for services
Nova Scotia Health Authority pays outstanding balances
The Nova Scotia Health Authority says payments have been issued to three Cape Breton municipalities to cover outstanding balances for hydrant and sewer services.
Kristen Lipscombe, spokesperson for the health authority, confirmed in an email with the Cape Breton Post on Wednesday, that payments were issued to the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Municipality of the County of Inverness, and the Municipality of the County of Victoria on Friday.
As a result of the payments, CBRM will receive $2.43 million, while Inverness County will receive $417,992.19 and Victoria County will get $27,627.02.
Victoria-The Lakes MLA Keith Bain raised the issue about the money owed to Victoria County in the legislature during question period on March 2.
Bain asked Minister of Health and Wellness Randy Delorey if he would direct the health authority to immediately pay Victoria County the money it was owed.
“For a small municipality, $27,000 is quite a bit,” said Bain. “Every $27,000 can go a long way in a small municipality like Victoria County.”
Leanne MacEachen, CEO of Victoria County, said the health authority asked the municipality to resend its invoices for the money owed for the services at the Victoria County Memorial Hospital in Baddeck.
The invoices were resent last week.
“It’s not like we can force the hospital to pay, the hospital is an exempt property,” said MacEachen in a phone interview on Wednesday. “We’re collecting on behalf of the Village of Baddeck, so it’s village bills that are sent out.”
“We’ve been in contact with Municipal Affairs over the last several years trying to collect this money because we’ve known that it’s been an issue — it wasn’t something that was ignored and allowed to build up.”
As of Wednesday morning, Victoria County hadn’t received the money from the health authority but Lipscombe said the municipalities should receive the money owed very soon.
Prior to payments being issued, the health authority owed CBRM $2.7 million in fire protection and sewer service costs dating back to the 201415 fiscal year for hospitals in the municipality, prior to the amalgamation of the province’s
health authorities.
Meanwhile, Inverness County was owed more than $500,000 for fire and sewer services at two of its hospitals since 2012.
As for Victoria County, it was owed between $27,000 and $28,000, that money also for fire protection, dating back to 2014.
Erin Bradley, clerk for the Village of Baddeck, said everyone gets billed for fire protection and that amount is transferred to the water utility.
“Right now, we’re just waiting for the cheque,” she said.