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Kincardine council has changed its mind and agreed to charge the water
users in Underwood and Scott's Point only $300 each instead of $3,500,
with the rest coming from the Ward 3 roads and bridges reserve.
In committee-of-the-whole March 4, council noted that the capital and
operating deficits for the past nine years equal about $7,800 per
customer in Underwood and $3,800 per customer in Scott's Point.
In December, council had approved a motion for the $3,500 charge. Then,
Feb. 10, the public works committee met with about 30 residents of the
affected areas, and a recommendation came to council that the users pay
only the $300 contribution to reserves and the rest of the deficit come
from the Ward 3 reserve.
Clayton McPherson of Underwood urged council to accept the
recommendation from public works and clean the balance sheet for the two
water systems at the north end of Ward 3. "We're fine with using up the
Ward 3 reserve," he said. "Otherwise, many of the customers are going to
find it difficult to pay $3,500 each."
John King of Scott's Point echoed those sentiments, saying there are
obvious benefits to being part of the Kincardine water system and each
household should pay $300 toward the water reserve fund. He realized
it's difficult to consider the fairness of the situation, given that the
Ward 3 reserve is being used for one area and not for the whole
community.
"But I and many others are concerned that an unexpected bill of $3,500
to the households of the two water systems is unfair since many
residents are retired, on a fixed income, and will experience dramatic
hardship," he said. "Similarly, a turnover of householders has occurred
over the past few years such that many newer, current residents were
completely unaware that they were inheriting a large debt that was
established before they made their decision to become residents."
Deputy mayor Laura Haight said using the Ward 3 reserve makes sense.
"When we've used up all the old reserves and we're all on a level
playing field, then we can work for the betterment of this whole
municipality," she said.
"We let you people down," said councillor Randy Roppel (Ward 3). "I did
too. This thing kept rolling, rolling, rolling and now here we are
tonight with a group of people looking for assistance. Had the
municipality ever dreamed of a water crisis such as happened in
Walkerton, there would have been ample funding set aside for these two
systems." (next column)
11/03/2009 06:40 PM
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Councillor Kenneth Craig noted that the group of water
users in Armow recently had to hook up to a municipal system and the
charge was $3,500 each. "We set the $3,500/household charge for
Underwood and Scott's Point in December last year," he said. "What's
changed?"
Haight said that the Armow system was never owned and operated by the
municipality, but Underwood and Scott's Point were, and council was
forced to do the upgrades under provincial legislation.
"This is like a politician being hit by a car," said councillor Mike
Leggett. "We saw it coming. We've been waiting nine years to see it die.
Can we not just get this resolved?"
"There's been some concern about the Underwood and Scott's Point
residents being not well-served by having to wait for this decision,"
said mayor Larry Kraemer. "But we've seen the cost drop to three per
cent of the original charge. I'd like to see some cost to the users.
Perhaps there's some middle ground here but not as high as $3,500."
"A $300 contribution to the system is acceptable," said Roppel. "Any
more would be adding insult to injury."
"That's not what I said," countered Kraemer. "You do
take licence from time-to-time."
"Thanks for noticing," chipped in Roppel.
"You're welcome," said Kraemer.
Later, during the council meeting, Craig objected to the motion and
suggested the capital cost should be $1,500 paid by each water user in
Underwood and Scott's Point.
However, council repealed its original motion from
December, and approved the $300 cost per user, with the rest from the
Ward 3 reserve.
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