Richmond Co. municipal building; CIGO file photo
Municipal councillors in Richmond Co. have passed their 2021-22 budget.
The new $14.1 million fiscal blueprint- up $400,000 from 2020-21- includes a one-cent tax increase to bring the residential tax rate to $0.81/$100 of assessment and the commercial tax rate $2.11/$100 of assessment.
It was approved during a special council meeting Wednesday night.
Amanda Mombourquette, the warden of Richmond Co., tells The Hawk one factor contributing to the tax hike was the rising cost of necessary expenses, such as police services, education and housing.
“Based on those pressures that we were facing, including those mandatory contribution pressures, we felt it was absolutely the best that we could do,” she says. “We did look in every corner (to try to avoid a tax increase).”
A Richmond County man is among four people charged in a murder case in Hants County.
28 year-old Brandon Doucette from L’Ardoise is charged with the murder of 51 year-old Robert Campbell from Falmouth whose remains were found inside a burnt vehicle in the community of St. Croix on May 24
th of last year.
Also charged in the murder is 37 year-old Rebecca Elizabeth Moir from Five Islands in Colchester County.
Two Kings County men have also been charged in the case.
42 year-old Darroll Murray Atwell and 26 year-old Devyn Adam Dennis are facing charges of accessory after the fact, indignity to human remains, arson and break and enter.
Richmond Co. Crest; Jack Morse/CIGO news
Local councillors are expressing their concerns about access to COVID-19 testing in their communities.
Richmond Co. council voted to send a letter to provincial officials at April’s regular council meeting Monday evening.
Warden Amanda Mombourquette says there are few opportunities for asymptomatic testing in the municipality.
“With numbers on the rise, and now with Dr. Strang asking people not to travel out of their community for testing, many people are at a loss as to how they can be tested,” she says. “Especially if they’ve had to leave the community for valid reasons, such as medical, legal, or educational.”
Richmond Co. municipal building; CIGO file photo
Officials with another local municipality are closing their offices to members of the public.
It comes as COVID-19 case numbers explode across the province.
Richmond Co. councillors made the decision at April’s regular municipal council meeting Monday night, which was held virtually for the same reason, a first for members of this council.
After, Amanda Mombourquette, the municipality’s warden, said it’s to protect the health and safety of their staff members.
“(It’s) similar to how we had to pivot here and, for the sake of everyone’s safety, conduct an online meeting,” she says. “I know we would prefer to be in-person together.”
Genworth Axes $2.7B Merger Deal With China-Based Company
Genworth is walking away from a potential merger with a China-based company.
Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
More than four years after it was first announced, Genworth Financial Inc. s plan to sell itself to a China-based investment company is officially dead.
The Henrico County-based insurance giant said Tuesday it has terminated its merger agreement with China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co. Ltd., a Beijing-based company that agreed in October 2016 to buy Genworth for about $2.7 billion, or $5.43 per share in cash.
The deal subsequently got tied up in years of government regulatory reviews in the United States and Canada, forcing Genworth and China Oceanwide to delay the completion of the merger 17 times.