Kincardine taxpayers are on the hook for at least $750,000 in costs associated with the failed sale of Bruce Telecom to Bragg Communications, operators of Eastlink.
Mayor Anne Eadie announced at a recent Council meeting that the municipality lost its arbitration attempt to get the money from Eastlink.
Eadie didn’t say much more other than the arbitrator ruled the details of the decision are to remain confidential.
She says what’s done is done and the municipality has to move on.
Eadie says Kincardine will now move forward to make Bruce Telecom an efficiently-run company in the technological field.
You may recall Bragg Communications, owners of Eastlink, offered to buy Bruce Telecom for $24-million.
However, the offer was withdrawn after the federal Competition Bureau questioned any public benefits the sale would create.
At that point, Bragg backed away from the deal.
Kincardine believed it was entitled to $1-million in costs from Bragg as a result and that’s what the arbitration hearing was about.
In August, Councillors were told that up until the end of June, about $750,000 in legal fees had been spent by the municipality — money that was not sufficiently budgeted for.
Bruce Telecom is wholly owned by Kincardine and its taxpayers.
