Driver ticketed for stunting near Berwick

A motorist was clocked travelling 161 km/h on Highway 101 near Berwick on Dec. 1.

The information was contained in the RCMP’s monthly report on stunting released on Jan. 13.

The Mounties said four drivers were charged with stunting in the province during the month. They ranged in speeds from 174 km/h in a 110 km/h zone on Highway 104 in Amherst to the 161 km/h in a 100 km/h zone in Berwick.

Anyone driving a motor vehicle 50 km/h or more over a speed limit may be charged with stunting. The fine is $2,422.50 for a first offence with six points added to the driver’s licence and an immediate seven-day roadside licence suspension.

In the Berwick case, the driver was a 53-year-old man from Rockland.

Kirk.starratt@saltwire.com

A new policy for funding volunteer fire department operations in Kings County and a new funding formula will likely be in place by this time next year.

At a special committee of the whole meeting on Jan.

14, councillors voted unanimously in favour of a recommendation from the Fire Services Advisory Committee (FSAC) relating to operational funding for 10 volunteer fire departments serving the municipality.

The recommendation doesn’t apply to the Kentville, Wolfville and Hantsport departments, which are under contract to provide fire services to applicable areas of Kings County.

If the recommendation is subsequently approved by Kings County council, fire budgets would be frozen at the 2021-2022 level for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. The understanding is a new funding model would be implemented for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

Municipal staff supports the recommendation. Council was scheduled to consider final approval at a special meeting on Jan. 18.

Following the Jan. 14 session, deputy chief administrative officer Rob Frost said there had been good discussions and he believes they’ve made progress on the matter. If council approves the recommendation, discussions with the FSAC will continue.

Work during the coming year would include establishing a new policy for funding volunteer fire department operations and determining a funding formula. Frost said he believes this is a reasonable timeframe to accomplish these goals.

“We’ve been talking about fire funding for two years, so we’ve got a lot of the groundwork out of the way,” he said.

Depending on what the committee and council would agree to, the funding model may be one that has already been proposed, or it “might be something completely different.”

PREVIOUS PROPOSALS

In January 2020, the FSAC recommended a finance subcommittee be established to examine fire department funding.

In June 2021, Frost presented six possible scenarios for future operational funding to the FSAC. Staff suggested the sixth option, presented as a proposed funding model, be recommended to council for approval.

As presented, there would be $1,892,390 to allocate for operating expenses to 10 volunteer fire departments serving Kings County. Each would be given a base fee of $50,000. Additional funding would be allocated using a formula, 50 per cent property-based and 50 per cent assessment-based.

Under this scenario, five of the 10 subject departments would see various reductions in operating funding. They include New Minas, Waterville and District, Canning, Greenwich and Hall’s Harbour.

Greenwich, Hall's Harbour and Waterville and District were among the departments that would see a reduction in operating funds under any of the six options originally proposed.

Frost said that, after receiving additional funding suggestions from the chiefs, two or three alternative funding models were developed. The main difference was that these took department substations into account. There are three departments that have substations.

The FSAC has yet to recommend council approval of any of the proposed funding scenarios. Frost said during his Jan. 14 presentation that one concern raised around the council table was the municipality hasn’t necessarily justified the amount of funding spent on fire department operations in general.

He said municipal staff understands through discussions the chiefs won’t feel comfortable supporting any model where any department sees reduced funding. There will not be full agreement when funding shifts from one department to another.

Frost said any time changing the funding distribution is considered, some recipients would get more, some less. Otherwise, you have the status quo.

“From my perspective, a year seems to be a reasonable timeline, provided that both parties are willing to come together to figure out what that solution is going to be.” Jason Ripley Greenwich Fire Chief

GREENWICH PLEASED WITH VOTE

Greenwich Fire Chief Jason Ripley serves on the FSAC but pointed out he speaks only on behalf of the Greenwich department.

He is pleased with the unanimous vote to hold department funding at the status quo for the coming fiscal year. Ripley said if this is approved by council, it will take some pressure off in terms of not having a substantial budget cut looming within a short timeframe.

For example, under the sixth proposed model, Greenwich would see a reduction of about 30 per cent in operating funds for their department.

The Greenwich Fire Commission was approved for $170,670 in operational funding for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. Under the sixth proposed funding model, this would be cut to $121,447.

Ripley said having another year before the new policy must be in place affords more time for the parties to return to the table and express their points of view.

“From my perspective, a year seems to be a reasonable timeline, provided that both parties are willing to come together to figure out what that solution is going to be,” Ripley said.

During this time, he hopes council would also provide some direction on what it would like to see in a future funding model.

Ripley said the biggest issue he sees with the models proposed to date is they are “overly simplistic” when considering the complexities involved.

He said it's important to determine the actual cost of providing a certain level of service before figuring out the best way to fund it. Any funding formula would have to be based on the realistic cost of what it takes to provide fire service.

Kings County Firefighters Association president Jeff Skaling couldn’t be reached for comment before deadline for this article.