[Mayor Murray Driscoll---File Photo]
Taxes in Quispamsis are going down.
As apart of the 2010 operating budget, the tax rate is decreasing by 2.2 cents, putting it at 1.20.
The entire budget is at $18.12 million dollars, and Mayor Murray Driscoll says there will be increased spending on road infrastructure as the town continues to grow.
Driscoll says the town is in good financial shape because it isn't borrowing money to pay for projects, with the exception of the Q-Plex. Driscoll says by not financing projects, and paying off the current debt, the town is realizing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of savings.
(Runway Activity at SJ Airport)
(Compliments of SJ Airport)
The Saint John Airport wants your feedback as officials go over the paperwork for it's strategic and 20-year master plan. They want to hear from residents in Saint John and all points in between Sussex and St. Stephen in putting the final document together. Input and comments can be forwarded to fly@sjairport.ca by January 08.
Results of the planning effort will be released at the Airport's Annual General Meeting in May.
The commute to the KV will be a lot easier this afternoon.
One lane of Highway 1 Eastbound was closed and the speed reduced near Strescon since last week while work crews put up a new sign for the Ashburn Lake Road exit.
It was gridlock on Highway 1 on the drive home last night with traffic backed up as far as the Harbour Bridge.
[M-P Rob Moore---File Photo]
Fundy Royal MP Rob Moore is calling on Michael Ignatieff and his Liberals to reverse changes to Bill C-15, legislation to establish mandatory penalties for serious drug crimes.
Moore tells CHSJ News the problem is the Liberal controlled-Senate creating loopholes to delay passage of the legislation.
The House of Commons including the Liberals passsed the bill and then Moore says, the Senate did their dirty work and that is what the Conservatives want addressed.
The bill would make drug trafficking for organized crime purposes with a weapon carry a mandatory prison sentence.
Moore says the stalling shows the Liberals are soft are crime.
(Starting from Left...Mayor Driscoll, Joel Levesque
and Derek Oland....Photo by Jim Hennessy)
When the Q-Plex in Quispamsis is complete, the name of the it's 4000 square foot meeting area will be known as the Moosehead Conference Center. In exchange for the naming right, the brewery makes a $125,000 dollar committment to the facility. Mayor Murray Driscoll says Moosehead continues to show why it is such an amazing community minded business.
Driscoll adds the search continues for a sponsor name for the facility. Along with the name of the conference center, Moosehead becomes the sole beer supplier for the facility for the next ten years.
(Sign in Protest of NB Power-Hydro-Quebec Deal)
(Photo by Jim Hennessy)
Black and white cartoons have begun showing up in store front windows around the Greater Saint John area. They show a man in a suit holding a wrench with the Irving logo on it and the head of Premier Shawn Graham as to top of the tool. The writing on the sign reads ""The Only Tool Needed to Dismantle Public Assets""
The signs are showing up a day after the group calling itself Put NB People First held a rally on Germain Street and the offices of three area MLA's to voice their displeasure with the proposal to sell NB Power's assets to Hydro Quebec. So far, no one has taken credit for the cartoon.
[Health Minister Mary Schryer]
Talk is being replaced with action in the drive to bring more nurses to the Province. The Graham Government has announced a $10,000 incentive to nursing graduates who accept positions targeted as being hard to recruit. Health Minister Mary Schryer says this is a necessary tool to continue boosting the ranks. President of the Provincial Nurses Union Marilyn Quinn says this is another positive step in recruitement.
The program is available to nurses who graduated after March 3 of this year and to nursing students in their fourth year of studies who accept positions identified as hard to recruit. Since October of 2006, 357 nurses have been recruited to the Province.
A 19-year old girl from Fredericton Junction is dead a single vehicle crash yesterday. RCMP were called to the Back Tracy Road to find the vehicle she was driving left the road and hit a pole. She was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown from the vehicle.
A 19-year old man in the vehicle suffered a few cuts and bruises but officers believe alcohol, speed and slippery road conditions all contributed to the accident happening. The name of the woman killed is not being released until family have been notified.
Two contracts worth $11.8 million have been awarded as construction continues on the Route 7 Welsford-Nerepis bypass. Redem Construction Ltd. of Rusagonis won the job to construct a viaduct on Route 7 and Debly Enterprises of Saint John won a tender for work on a 2.6-km stretch on Route 101 to the transmission line near Route 7.
The total project cost for Phase 1 is $29.2 million and is scheduled to be finished in 2012.
The Provincial Environment Department has awarded Coleson Cove a new Class 1 air quality license approval. The company's current air quality operating approval will expire on Jan. 14.
The renewal follows a public consultation which included a 120-day public review between July 13 and Nov. 16. The new license is good for the next five years.
We have the locations where you can take your Christmas tree to be mulched after the holiday. In Quispamsis, your tree can be dropped off at the parking lot of the Recreation Center off Meehan's Cove Road and the Walter Jewett Ballfield parking lot. Trees must be dropped of by Jan.8th. In Rothesay, there are four drop-off area's. The Bill McGuire Center, Wells Recreation Field, East Riverside Kingshurst Park and the front lot of the Rothesay Arena.
In Saint John.......you can take your tree to the Gorman Arena in Millidgeville, The Peter Murray and Hilton Belyea is taking tree's for the West Side and in East Saint John it is the Forest Hills Ballfield. A location for the South End is still trying to be found. All tree's will be mulched on January.9th and the complete list is available on our website at country94.ca just click news.
The Energy and Utilities Board wants to hear more from Acadian Coach Lines about its planned cuts to bus routes in the province. The Board wants more detailed information about ridership and costs on the two routes it wants to drop. Acadian is asking for approval to eliminate its routes from Saint John to Bangor which also serve Charlotte County as well as the Fredericton to Miramichi routes, which also stop in communities along Route 8. While asking for cuts, Acadian would like to increase the number of express buses between Saint John, Fredericton, Moncton and Halifax.
A young girl from Quispamsis is trying to make a difference and encourage others to do the same. For the past several weeks, 12 -year old Rebecca Dempster has held a bake sale at her school during the lunch hour. With the $230.00 dollars she has raised, Rebecca is sponsoring a young girl through a program with the Kennebecasis Valley Fire Department. Dempster tells CHSJ News, four years ago, she and her family were sponsored. She is encouraging companies and individuals to support someone through the program. For more information you can contact the Kennebecasis Valley Fire Department.
(Mayor Grace Losier)
(photo by Tamara Steele)
There will not be an increase in the tax rate in Grand Bay-Westfield for 2010. Town Council passed the budget and kept the tax rate at $1.37. The 4.8 million dollar budget includes a nearly 20 thousand dollar increase in the cost of RCMP services to $627-thousand dollars. 2-million dollars will be borrowed in 2010 for the Colonel Nase Boulevard project connecting Highway 7 to River Valley Drive. The user fee for sewerage services will remain the same at $270 per unit.
The plan to build condos at 23 Marr Road has passed first reading so it can proceed for now. The town of Rothesay is allowing Rod Crowther to begin phase 1 of the development but is tabling the zoning by-law until more information can be given. Crowther wants to build 4 or 5 buildings, which will hold approximately 160 units. Phase 1 will consist of one buiilding with 20 to 24 condos and Crowther says the entire project benefits the town by putting nearly 160 housing units on 6 acres of land. Before approving the by law amendment, town council requires more information on how the development will affect neighbouring properties in terms of storm water management, as well as the scale of development.
[Mayor Bill Bishop---File Photo]
The Town of Rothesay is reducing it's tax rate by 2 cents. The town's tax rate is down to $1.21 cents and Mayor Bill Bishop tells CHSJ News, unlike other municipalities, Rothesay includes garbage pick up in it's budget. Bishop says if the cost of garbage pick up wasn't included in the rate, it would be in the area of 1.16 cents, which is close to where the province recommended it to be. The town will increase spending on recreation which is something Bishop says residents have been asking for. The town will conduct a study on trails in the community, as well as major renovations to the Rothesay Arena, and the Renforth Wharf. The town's total general budget amounts to $14.85 million dollars.
