South Coast Today - roger taylor

Shelburne Muni warden says Lockeport & Shelburne annexation plan bad idea

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 17:07:20 +0000

"Not well thought out' plan could cost towns $400,000

Municipality of Shelburne warden Roger Taylor says in his spring message to residents that the possibility of the amalgamation of the Town of Shelburne and the Municipality has "reached an impasse" and that the Town's plan to join with Lockeport to annex parts of the Municipality is "not a well thought out idea" and would cost the two towns almost half a million dollars.

Taylor also said that in February, provincial advisors to the municipal units warned Shelburne and Lockeport that they [provincial government] "do not recommend any attempt to annex the Municipality."

The warden said that his council decided to halt amalgamation efforts until the Town and Province took some "action to mitigate the financial risks to the Municipality." Only after that took place, Taylor intimated, would his Council "recommend to our taxpayers that we should go ahead with some form of consolidation."

In his "warden's message" in the MODS Spring Newsletter, Taylor also addresses the Roseway Hospital closure and local health care issues, wind turbines, the business park and the prospect of a Shelburne County Marine and Aquatic Centre of Excellence, for which the Council has received a recent report.

READ SPRING NEWSLETTER HERE

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Shelburne annexation, amalgamation, dissolution discussion stays heated

Timothy Gillespie — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 00:20:17 +0000

Lockeport mayor Darian Huskilson, Municipal warden Roger Taylor, Shelburne mayor Karen Mattatall

Councilors accused of bullying by Lockeport mayor

The Town of Shelburne is trying to push forward with shared services with other municipal units in the area, according to a report on CKBW Radio web site about the Council meeting Wednesday.

A motion was put forward that suggested discussions with Shelburne Municipality and the Town of Lockeport resume, with issues of amalgamation, annexation and dissolution on the agenda.

Councilor Roy O'Donnell was adamantly opposed to having dissolution of the Town discussed with other councils and dissolution was removed as a discussion topic. "The mandate that our two councils have had from my very early days on Council was that of amalgamation, which I think is the only legitimate topic." says O'Donnell. "It is the only issue I am seriously interested in discussing."

Mayor Karen Mattatall told CKBW, "It was very clear that my council, the majority of them, do not want the town to talk about dissolution."

Some municipal councilors have openly favoured dissolution of the Town of Shelburne as the best option.

Recently, councilor Rick Davis proposed that the Town move to annex some municipal lands adjoining the Town.

Mattatall told CKBW she hopes the three units will hold a joint meeting with the department of municipal affairs.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Lockeport wants each municipal unit to move forward together.

The working relationship between the Town of Shelburne and municipality has appeared to decline over the last few months, due in part to various council members taking offence at the comments of others.

Several weeks ago, municipal warden Roger Taylor published a letter to the editor in the Shelburne Coast Guard (now the Tri-County Vanguard) in which he took the Town council to task and recommended dissolution, which would make it easier for the Municipality to negotiate a better financial deal with the province. In the letter, Taylor lectures the Town to "mitigate their financial position" by dissolving. .

Even though he and his council recently voted not to proceed with public consultations surrounding amalgamation, Taylor urged the Town to hold public consultations about his dissolution scheme. One local official who asked not to be named suggested that Taylor appears to be inappropriately "butting into the Town's business."

Taylor went on to cite the factors spelled out in a flurry of MODS news releases that week, saying the Town and the Municipality "are not equals, as the Municipality is in much better financial condition than the Town." He adds that the Town's weak finances and inability to do infrastructure upgrades is "dangerous".

Lockeport mayor Darian Huskilson told CKBW that he "hopes they can come to an agreement," and said some council members were guilty of bullying others and pushing their opinions on others.

Huskilson said anything should be on the table to improve services for residents.

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Shelburne Town fires back at Municipality

Timothy Gillespie — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 13:33:17 +0000

"The time for a free ride is over." Shelburne Town councilor Roy O'Donnell

After a solid week of being painted in news releases and opinion pieces from Shelburne Municipal warden Roger Taylor and his Council in local media as less than competent financial managers who had allowed Town infrastructure to degrade under its watch, the Shelburne Town Council has finally issued a news release of their own, trying to set the record straight from their perspective.

The release says that two years ago, Mayor Mattatall and the Shelburne Town Council approached Warden Roger Taylor and the Council of the Municipality of the District of Shelburne to discuss the possibility of amalgamation of our two municipal units.

The Town Council, says the release, supported the idea of amalgamation of the two units because it was their belief that "amalgamation would provide a better governance structure and better service delivery for all of [the Town's] residents, including improved public infrastructure that "we all use on a daily basis."

Town is area hub
The Town is described as "the hub of the area where the majority of public infrastructure is centred." In fact," asserts the release, "the Town is the very reason that the Municipality exists." and that "It is recognized by the residents that because the Town supports this necessary infrastructure, it should be a shared responsibility."

The release explains that towns throughout Nova Scotia are, by decision of the province, saddled with paying for the lion’s share of public infrastructure as compared to rural municipalities who benefit greatly from receiving the same transfers for equalization and Federal gas tax but with few real infrastructure responsibilities.

"The Town of Shelburne continues and will continue to maintain and improve our shared public infrastructure," adds the release, saying that, in the past five (5) years, the Town has completed capital projects totalling $1,657,594 with a further $1,336,000 currently in progress.

Tax rate steady, debt reduced
During this same 5 year period, the Town tax rate has not increased, yet the Town has been able to reduce its general debt from $728,191 at March 31, 2010 to $233,768 at March 31^st, 2015; a reduction of 68%. In this same time frame the Town has increased its general reserves from $399,033 to $759,614; an increase of 90%.

"This considerable progress," says the release, "has been made by the Town on its own and with federal funding support. Had we received funding support from the Municipality and the Government of Nova Scotia even more could have been done to address the current public infrastructure deficit in our community."

Missing opportunity to show leadership
The release accuses the Council of the Municipality of the District of Shelburne of choosing to "turn away from the opportunity to show leadership and invest in the public infrastructure that we all use on a daily basis," but adds that the Town "will not shirk its responsibility to the residents."

The release says the Town will be taking the information gathered to originally support amalgamation discussions and using it to continue the development of a comprehensive asset management plan to address Town infrastructure.

Arrogant diatribe by warden

Shelburne Town Councilor Roy O'Donnell was offended by what he described at Wednesday's Council meeting as Taylor's "diatribe", in this week's Coast Guard, which O'Donnell said displayed arrogance and exaggerated Taylor's own importance in the amalgamation debate.

O'Donnell also pointed out that of the many citizens who enjoy the benefits of Little People's Place Day Care, King Street Centre pre-school, Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club andf Marina and Osprey Arts Centre, as many as 60% of the users of those facilities are residents of the Municipality. The Town receives no rental income from any of the properties and has received no funding support from the Municipality for any infrastructure support.

As far as he is concerned, O'Donnell told SCT, "Time for a free ride is over."

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Warden says Town of Shelburne should dissolve, citing dangerous financial policies

Timothy Gillespie — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 14:44:19 +0000

Warden butting into Town's business?

Citing the poor financial state of the Town of Shelburne, Municipal warden Roger Taylor says a planned amalgamation would be better if the Town just dissolved. This, Taylor says in a letter to the Coast Guard, would make it easier for the Municipality to negotiate a better financial deal with the province.

Taylor goes on to cite the factors spelled out in the flurry of MODS news releases last week, saying the Town and the Municipality are not equals, as the Municipality is in much better financial condition than the Town.

He adds that the Town's weak finances and inability to do infrastructure upgrades is "dangerous", that the Municipality can raise 400% more money on a one cent tax increase and that it was the Municipality's commitment that cemented the deal on the planned new medical centre. An amalgamation as "equals", Taylor suggests, would likely mean the medical centre would be a no-go.

In the letter, Taylor lectures the Town to "mitigate thier financial position" by dissolving.

Even though his council recently voted not to proceed with public consulations surrounding amalgamation, Taylor urges the Town to hold public consultations about his dissolution scheme. One local official who asked not to be named suggested that Taylor appears to be inappropriately "butting into the Town's business."

SEE WARDEN TAYLOR'S LETTER HERE

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Opinion: McNeil and Whalen only supporters of film tax credit slash?

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 10:48:12 +0000

There’s something unusual about the flap over the downgrading of Nova Scotia’s film tax credit, accoring to Roger Taylor of the Chronicle Herald

Since the change was announced last week in the provincial budget, he hasn't found anyone who supports the idea, aside from Premier Stephen McNeil and Finance Minister Diana Whalen.

After more than 30 years, one might tend to believe that Nova Scotia’s film industry should be ready to stand on its own without much of an incentive, but there are extenuating circumstances related to the film business here.

SEE FULL TAYLOR COLUMN HERE

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