ANTIGONISH COUNTY: The warden for the Municipality of the County of Antigonish says while the infrastructure and roads they’re responsible for have stood up fairly well so far this winter, throughout the county, a lot of roads in the provincial jurisdiction are in bad shape.
“There’s an abnormally high number of pot holes on a lot of paved surfaces, and then the gravel roads are a whole different story in terms of potholes,” Warden Owen McCarron told The Reporter. “It’s been a tough winter on that side, we’re hearing a lot of concerns from our constituents throughout the county and different areas, mostly on provincial roads.”
Following the municipality’s regular council meeting on March 8, McCarron indicated with only a couple weeks remaining of winter weather, they should come within projected amounts in their salt and snow removal budgets.
“For us, in the municipality, we’ve used probably a bit more salt than we have in the past,” he said. “And that’s primarily because of these quick thaws and then these quick freezes.”
The warden suggested they try to look at their maintenance work over the winter and spread their averages over a five year window, noting last year, it was a bit lighter on their budget.
Allison Duggan, the county’s Director of Finance, confirmed with The Reporter the total operating budget amount for Transportation Services is $383,107 and their actual year-to-date spending is $264,816.
Something that has been a concern for everyone, the county included, has been the recent increases in the price of fuel, McCarron noted
“Obviously, we’re at the tail end of our winter work hopefully, but if we happen to have a hard two weeks to end March or (begin) April, there is that extra pressure with the increase in fuel prices,” McCarron said. “Diesel was cresting around $2 per litre last week, it pulled back a wee bit, but most of our snow removal equipment run diesel.”
The warden indicated that council will now begin to think about next year in terms of budget items, one being fuel price.
“There’s certainly going to be an impact going forward on what we allocate for snow removal, garbage collection,” McCarron said. “Because they’re all heavier pieces of equipment and they’re services that need to happen, you can’t scale back that part.”
McCarron said the increasing cost of fuel is something that’s created a lot of concern among residents throughout the municipality as there are still a lot of people who burn oil as a primary heating source. He said winter is always a tough time for people but the added pressure from fuel prices along with the price of commuting back-and-forth to work, are concerns.
“You come out of COVID, and things are starting to get back to a little bit of normal, and just when we’re at a point where we might be able to travel, is travel going to be too expensive because of fuel costs,” McCarron said. “I’ve talked to some people who’ve said they’re no longer taking leisurely drives. I think you’ll see people’s patterns change a bit as well because people will have to make that decision to put fuel oil in the tank for the house or do you go for an extra coffee a couple times a week.”
When asked about a potential resolution, he advised the province could alter the provincial gas tax; highlighting Alberta has done something similar in reducing provincial taxes off the fuel price.
“I’m not sure what the ability the province has to do that, but we’d love to see something that would take some of the pressures of the residents of Nova Scotia,” McCarron added. “Because these severe increases, when the interrupter clause gets kicked in two or three times inside a couple of weeks, is concerning.”