The Municipality of Pictou County will be holding its property tax rate. Council for the Municipality of Pictou County voted this week to approve a $26-million operating budget. Warden Robert Parker says Council is happy to be able to hold the tax rate, although he noted residents may still be paying more for taxes because of increasing property value assessments. Assessments are determined by the independent Property Valuation Services Corporation without input from the Municipality.
The Municipality budgeted $9.3-million for protective services in the 2025/26 fiscal year, which is 31% of the operating budget. It will also pay a mandatory contribution of $6.7-million for education, which is 22% of the operating budget. The budget also allocates more than $800,000 for grants that benefit community groups and programs in Pictou County.
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The Nova Scotia government is increasing the Provincial Capital Assistance Program budget to 1.69-million dollars, helping fund additional infrastructure projects in communities across the province. The government says the boost to the budget will double the number of programs that can be supported, with 23 projects currently receiving funding. Infrastructure upgrades applicable under the program include water and wastewater assessments, stormwater system upgrades and improvements to water treatment facilities. Provincial Capital Assistance Grant recipients include $124-thousand for the Town of Trenton for well replacement; and $136-thousand for the Town of Westville for the Westville Water Project.
As housing construction continues to ramp up across Canada and highrise towers pop up in Atlantic Canada, firefighters say they are worried about their ability to protect taller structures. The Atlantic Provinces Professional Firefighters Association has sounded the alarm, saying crews in Eastern Canada don’t have the resources needed to handle emergencies above the seventh floor of a structure. Association president Glenn Miller says highrise structures present challenges because they don’t have enough staff to fight the flames or tall enough ladder-trucks to reach higher.
The three Maritime provinces have released data revealing their measles vaccination rates in children are below the 95 per cent threshold recommended by scientists to prevent the disease from spreading. In Nova Scotia about 23 per cent of children were not fully vaccinated for measles in 2024, while P-E-I and New Brunswick say about 10 per cent of children are not fully vaccinated for the disease. Canada has seen three-thousand 703 measles cases this year from Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, P-E-I , Quebec and Saskatchewan.
