NS: Pictou County council surprised by Deloitte audit and $100k+ bill

PICTOU COUNTY, NS. May 24, 2026 – Pictou County councillors expressed shock when, in a recent meeting representatives from the provincial Department of Municipal Affairs announced they performed an audit on the municipality’s tax sale process and it will cost the county $109,000.

The audit was independently done by Deloitte, which reviewed the period 2019-24. The firm found that during that time, no tax sales were completed, including ones that were deemed necessary by the Municipal Government Act (MGA).

The audit came with five observations and recommendations, and all observations were considered to be high risk.

Recommendations included resuming enforcement in the form of tax sales, upgrading software used to keep track of delinquent properties, revising the municipal tax sale policy to reflect what is outlined in the MGA, creating a formal framework to monitor non-compliance and adding controls to mitigate potential conflicts of interest. 

District 9 Coun. Peter Boyles questioned who authorized the audit.

“It wasn’t an authorization,” replied regional municipal advisor Ross MacDonald.. “It was essentially a departmental directive . . . Concerns were raised about the tax sale process. The department approached the municipality looking for clarification on its practices as they existed. The department felt that the information was insufficient and didn’t support the request. So the department took the steps of ordering the audit to take place.”

“So because of that, it cost us over $100,000?” Boyles asked, to which MacDonald simply stated: “Yes.”

District 3 Coun. Darla MacKeil followed by stating her thoughts.

“I am kind of surprised at the amount — $109,000,” she said.

Map of Pictou County, Nova Scotia (Canadaolympic989 at English Wikipedia).

“That’s a lot of taxpayer money to go towards an audit. I might understand half of that or a third of that, but over $100,000 is an extreme amount, I believe, to conduct an audit within the municipality. As a taxpayer and also as a councillor, I’m kind of shocked at that amount. You had said that there was concern or you received a complaint. Where did that come from?”

MacDonald couldn’t say who exactly the complaint came from, but stated that the province receives input on a constant basis. 

Executive director of planning and sector relations with Municipal Affairs Elizabeth Kennedy, who was with MacDonald during the presentation, added that the initial cost they were considering for the audit was closer to $300,000, and that they managed to whittle it down to the present $109,000.

MacKeil wasn’t satisfied with that, saying: “No, it still seems high to me. You mentioned that municipalities struggle with the same issues as other municipalities. Were other municipalities audited at the same time that we were?”

To which MacDonald replied that they weren’t, but that they were looked at for best practices. 

District 12 Coun. Chester Dewar also made his thoughts known.

“I’m really disappointed in the whole way it was done,” he said. “I have no problem with you sending some information that this should have been this way and that should have been that way, and that should have been free — given that money is being sent to Halifax all the time by the taxpayers. As far as the $109,000 goes, send it to the people that complained to you. We didn’t complain. That’s where the bill should be going. And I know you’re saying, ‘Oh, he’s crazy.’ Well, he’s not crazy. If you sent me an invoice for that and I didn’t hire you, you wouldn’t get paid in real life. In make-believe government life, though, you’re always right.”

Boyles then joined in again with a question to potentially resolve the issue. He asked whether there was a procedure or rule for MOPC to dispute this charge. 

However, Kennedy replied that there was no formal process for dispute, but that the municipality could send a letter that would be read by provincial officials. 

“You’re telling me — so I get it right — if we want to dispute this $109,000, we have to turn around and go back to the department that did it without us telling them to do it, and they would have to make the decision that OK, we’ll lower it or whatever?” asked Boyles.

Warden Robert Parker made a final statement in which he acknowledged the value in the audit, but added that what was bothering the people in the room was the lack of consultation for the process.

“There’s an expectation that Mr. MacDonald, as our municipal advisor, and the Department of Municipal Affairs is going to help us with these things — you know, to look into them, say, ‘Look, you’re off track here. You need to be doing better here.’ But not to hire somebody and give us a big bill. I think, you know, we’re expecting that advice. We’re creatures of the province, as they always say, so we’re expecting that advice without a big bill coming with it,” he said.

Parker closed by stating council’s potential plan.

“We will be in contact with your department . . . because as you pointed to, it’s going to help you fill in a lot, too, with other municipalities,” he said.  

“Therefore, you’ve gained from this audit as much as we have. And perhaps there’s some room there for sharing some of that cost based on that.”

Sam McBain is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with The Advocate in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. Title image: Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada by Quintin Soloviev, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons; Attribution 4.0 International licence. Map of Pictou County, Nova Scotia released into the public domain by its author, Canadaolympic989 at English Wikipedia.