Belleville’s Ward 2 councillors, Kathryn Brown and Paul Carr, held a town hall meeting for Thurlow residents on Thursday evening.
A crowd of residents gathered at the Gerry Masterson Community Centre to talk with the pair about the issues facing them.
Much of the talk was centred on the upcoming 2026 budget and its impact on residents. The pair of councillors took the time to go through several parts of the draft budget and explain to residents where their tax dollars are going. Many Thurlow residents are grappling with increased costs for firefighters as the urban area expands and professional firefighters take over for volunteers under the new Fire Master Plan. Councillor Brown said that the pair had done their best to minimize impact to the residents with a phased introduction for the new rates.
“The fire department did run public consultation sessions, three of them leading up to it, but they were not well attended,” said Councillor Brown. “Not because of anything the fault of fire and emergency services, but I just think that people didn’t understand what was coming. ”
Also during the budget talks, many residents voiced their displeasure at the upcoming police budget, with spending on the police service set to increase by 15%. Councillor Carr said he was strongly opposed to the increased spending.
“I already put a statement out back in November, and I made it clear that the rate was extremely too high and unsustainable,” said Councillor Carr. “Over the last five years, the police budget has increased 62%. I haven’t voted in favour of the last two budgets, and I’m certainly not voting for a 15% increase.”
Budget concerns weren’t the only topics discussed. Residents also raised concerns about the proposed southern high speed rail corridor which could cut through the community. Councillor Brown said she’s putting forward a motion for Belleville to officially oppose any route through the community.
“Now they’re doing the public consultation, but no pre-consultation with it, and still nobody has reached out,” said Councillor Brown. “I did confirm that at council on Monday, no one from Alto has reached out to the municipality of Belleville to say – you’re a big part of the southern corridor proposal. How do you feel about it?”
Some of the other topics discussed were the ongoing homelessness problem, illegal garbage dumping, and whether Thurlow ward residents were receiving proper representation in the ward system.
Thurlow residents took the chance to question their councillors about how they’ve been representing them during the Town Hall meeting. Photo: Alan-Michael Steele, Quinte News
