News
Municipal Council Special Meeting News
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Municipal council approves village rates for Pugwash and River Hebert
Cumberland municipal council passed a motion during a special meeting on Monday, April 28, 2025, to set the village rates for residents of Pugwash and River Hebert.
In River Hebert, the residential/resource and the commercial rate will be 10 cents per $100 of assessment while in Pugwash, the residential/resource rate will be 37 cents per $100 of assessment and the commercial rate will by 44 cents per $100 of assessment.
The rates are the same as 2024-25.
When the municipality approved its 2025-26 budget on March 31, it had not received confirmation of the village rates.
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Municipal council approves demolition orders for four properties
Cumberland municipal council approved demolition orders for four properties during a special meeting on Monday, April 28, 2025.
Orders were issued for two properties in Springhill – 46 Church St. and 2 South St. – while an order was issued for a Parrsboro property – 3276 Highway 2 – and at 11890 Highway 2, Leamington.
The demolitions are to be completed within 30 days of the issuing of the order. Demolition of the 46 Church St., Springhill, property is to be completed within 60 days.
News Items From April 23, 2025, meeting of Cumberland Municipal Council
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Council approves $286,786 expenditure for SCBA and air cylinders for fire departments
Cumberland municipal council has approved the purchase of 25 sets of SCBA and 50 air cylinders for the fire service.
The cost of the self-contained breathing apparatus is $245,593 (including non-recoverable HST) and the air cylinders cost $41,192 (including non-recoverable HST) for a total of $286,786.
Safety Source Ltd. was the only company to submit a proposal. It has been the supplier of SCBA for the past two years.
SCBA is one of the most important pieces of personal protective equipment a firefighter uses.
Municipal Council Holds Regular Meeting on Wednesday, April 23
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Municipality of Cumberland has new Joint Accessibility Plan
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The Municipality of Cumberland, Village of Pugwash and Village of River Hebert have come together to create a new Joint Accessibility Plan with the aim to make Cumberland accessible for all.
On Wednesday, March 26, 2025, municipal council approved the municipality's newest Joint Accessibility Plan as mandated by the Nova Scotia Accessibility Act.
Accessible means that something is easy for anyone to use. People with and without disabilities can use or participate in it fully (e.g. flat sidewalks, job benefits, and documents that anyone can read).
The Joint Accessibility Plan has been developed by the Accessibility Advisory Committee, which is a collaboration between the Municipality of the County of Cumberland, the Village of Pugwash, the Village of River Hebert, the Nova Scotia Accessibility Directorate within the Department of Justice, and members of the public.
The plan organizes actions for the municipality and villages to take.
At least one half of the committee’s members are people with disabilities (or employees who work for people with disabilities).
Municipal staff have spoken with Cumberland residents to hear their opinions about what should be included. The Plan will be reviewed and updated at least every three years in accordance with Nova Scotia’s Accessibility Act (2017), or more often as necessary.
Municipality of Cumberland approves $41-million operating budget, $14.3-million capital budget
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The Municipality of Cumberland approved a $41-million operating budget and a $14.3-million capital budget at a special online meeting on Monday, March 31, 2025.
It was the first time in recent memory that the municipality's operating and capital budgets have been brought forward for council's consideration and final approval prior to the beginning of the fiscal year.
The municipality’s commercial assessment values remained relatively flat this year, but residential capped assessment grew by about seven per cent. With the Property Valuation Services Corporation setting the assessment cap at 1.5 per cent, real residential assessment growth, or new assessment, was about 5.5 per cent. This growth produced about $1.5 million in additional tax revenue.