Pictou County councilors who arrived to attend last night’s regular monthly meeting in person
were greeted by a line of fire trucks from departments across the county. Firefighters were there to show their support for departments unhappy with council’s plans to deal with funding issues. Five of the county’s volunteer departments, because of their smaller size and/or smaller tax bases, are having trouble raising the money to replace aging equipment. Firefighter spokesperson Robert Langille is also the chair of the Caribou Fire Department. He says council has been ignoring their own processes to try to fix the problem.
The issue wasn’t settled last night: after going in camera for more than 45 minutes at the start of the meeting, council struck discussion of the budget, tax rates for the current fiscal year, and fire rates for the various departments off the agenda. They will have to be passed at a future meeting.