6 Annapolis Valley communities are suing Annapolis County over waste dispute

Six municipalities in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley are suing the Municipality of the County of Annapolis because of a dispute over the regional waste management system.

The Valley Region Solid Waste-Resource Management Authority was co-owned and operated by seven municipalities:

• Municipality of the County of Annapolis.
• Municipality of the County of Kings.
• Town of Annapolis Royal.
• Town of Berwick.
• Town of Kentville.
• Town of Middleton.
• Town of Wolfville.

The municipalities had jointly operated Valley Waste for close to two decades.

The problems go back to January 2018 when Annapolis County began raising concerns about the budgeting process for Valley Waste.

Disagreements over budgets and operating plans escalated to the point that Annapolis County was putting conditions on its payments and giving notice of its intention to withdraw from Valley Waste. By August 2018, the other members of the waste system ended collection services for Annapolis County.

What the statement of claim says

According to the statement of claim, Kings County and the towns of Annapolis Royal, Berwick, Kentville, Middleton and Wolfville say the Municipality of the County of Annapolis was "in breach of its contractual obligations" for failing to pay its share of the costs and that this failure constituted a "unilateral early withdrawal" from the organization.

None of the allegations has been proven in court.

Peter Muttart, the mayor of Kings County, said the breakup meant his municipality had to step up and cover some of the financial obligations of Annapolis County.

'We don't want to be here,' says Kings County mayor

"I would estimate the municipality in the short term had to bridge a little more than a million dollars," he said.

Muttart said he had hoped the dispute could be settled through binding arbitration, but Annapolis County did not want to take part in the process, so on Aug. 16, 2019, the remaining owners of Valley Waste launched a lawsuit.

"We don't want to be there," said Muttart. "No municipal disagreement should find itself in a court of law."

Muttart expects the lawsuit will take at least two years to resolve and will mean about $200,000 in legal bills.

Statement of defence

John Ferguson, the chief administrative officer for Annapolis County, did not want to comment on the situation, but on Aug. 29, 2019, the municipality filed a statement of defence.

It says the lawsuit does not have any validity because proper notice as outlined under the Municipal Government Act was not provided. It also refutes many of the allegations made in the statement of claim and includes a counterclaim.

Annapolis County says it is owed a proportionate share of an accumulated surplus at Valley Waste, which amounts to $872,000.

Because Annapolis County stopped having its waste collection done by Valley Waste, it had to purchase new green bins that totalled $657,800. The purchase amount is listed in the county's minutes for an Aug. 29, 2018, meeting.

Annapolis County also wants reimbursement for the green bins after collection services were withdrawn.