Nova Scotia·NewAfter the Village of Baddeck, N.S., rejected what Victoria County said was a non-negotiable offer to divide responsibilities for funding some infrastructure and services, the county’s warden says the door to further talks isn’t completely closed.Village says it can’t accept some parts of proposal to divide funding responsibilitiesTom Ayers · CBC News · Posted: Nov 19, 2025 5:06 PM EST | Last Updated: 24 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Village of Baddeck commission chair Jennifer MacDonald says the community cannot accept some parts of an offer from Victoria County that would determine who pays for some infrastructure and services. (Tom Ayers/CBC)The elected commissioners in the Village of Baddeck, N.S., have unanimously rejected what was billed as a non-negotiable offer from Victoria County in which the larger municipality would have taken over some of the community’s infrastructure and service costs.But, it turns out, the proposal might not be as hard and fast as the county initially claimed.At a community meeting Tuesday, Baddeck officials and residents said there were elements of the county’s offer they could not accept.”It being non-negotiable and it being ‘accept in full’ or ‘reject in full’ within 30 days was a part of the difficulty of being able to not accept pieces or not adapt pieces,” village commission chair Jennifer MacDonald said.The village had wanted the county to assume full responsibility for sidewalk construction and maintenance and had been seeking some capital funding for Baddeck’s sewer and water systems.It was also asking to negotiate a transfer of the lease for the arena property and some financial support for the community club property, assets the village says are used by residents from across the county.Sidewalks a sticking pointMacDonald said the provincial Department of Municipal Affairs provided the village with a letter confirming that sidewalks are a municipal responsibility, even though Baddeck residents have been subsidizing the cost of sidewalks for years and the county already pays for sidewalks in the community of Ingonish.The county was ready to agree on the sidewalks but also demanded full control of Baddeck’s sewer and water utilities.”We do appreciate that they did include sidewalks in this offer, but again it was non-negotiable, take it or leave it, and it included a number of other pieces that just at this point didn’t pass sort of the vibe in the room today at our community meeting,” MacDonald said.”It just wasn’t something that we were willing to agree on.”MacDonald said Baddeck’s sewer and water utilities are self-sustaining and don’t need to be handed over to the county.From left, village commission chair Jennifer MacDonald, commissioners Bonnie Whyte, Denise Roberts and Gary Crowder, village manager Roman Braun-Huettner and commissioner Anna MacDonald. (Tom Ayers/CBC)She also said user fees for other county utilities are much higher than Baddeck’s and there was no guarantee that lower rates would continue in the village if the county took over.Residents and businesses in Baddeck pay taxes to the village for a limited amount of infrastructure and services, while also paying full taxes to the county as part of District 3.They also pay user fees that cover the cost of the sewer and water systems.On Wednesday, Warden Jackie Organ said she had not received official notice of the village’s decision but was willing to talk about it.’Doors are always open'”We’re not closing doors … if they want to come back with something else, our doors are always open,” she said.”Once we get the formal say from the village, I’ll take it back to council and the council will decide. I can’t talk for the other seven [county councillors], so we will take it to a meeting and then we will get back to them.” The county council came up with its final offer after meeting behind closed doors last month, following a 98-page proposal from the village that MacDonald had said was a starting point for negotiations.That became necessary after the county cancelled all of its former funding arrangements with the village last year, causing some tension between the two municipal units.Organ said accepting Baddeck’s recent proposal would have cost taxpayers $2.3 million over five years and possibly more over a longer term.Warden Jackie Organ says Victoria County is no longer considering any compensation for the village’s work clearing sidewalks last winter, because sidewalks are the village’s responsibility. (Tom Ayers/CBC)The county used to contribute $8,000 a year to the village for sidewalk snowplowing but cancelled that last year with a promise to discuss a fair cost-sharing arrangement.Organ said the county is no longer considering any compensation for the village’s work clearing sidewalks last winter.She said sidewalks are a municipal responsibility and the Village of Baddeck is a municipality within a municipality, which would make the sidewalks their asset.The village had also been asking the county to restore its long-standing practice of sharing 15 per cent of the federal gas tax rebate, known as the Canada Community-Building Fund, which is targeted at infrastructure.Organ said if the village’s utilities are self-sustaining, they wouldn’t need to ask for money from the county and she said Baddeck could apply for grants like any other organization in the county.MORE TOP STORIESABOUT THE AUTHORTom Ayers has been a reporter and editor for 39 years. He has spent the last 21 covering Cape Breton and Nova Scotia stories. You can reach him at tom.ayers@cbc.ca.
Baddeck, Victoria County disagree on what was called ‘non-negotiable’ offer
