Are Your Taxes Subsidizing Water and Sewer Services for a Select Few??

According to the just released report of Ontario's Environmental Commissioner, we all just may be........

Excerpt from his report...

Financing Ontario’s Municipal Drinking Water Systems (p. 90)

Ontario’s municipalities, by and large, do not charge consumers anywhere near the full cost for the water and sewage services they provide.  Instead, most municipalities heavily subsidize these services through property taxes and provincial grants, and more disturbingly, they simply under-invest in their water and sewage systems creating a serious backlog of repairs and upgrades to their infrastructure.

In 2001, following the contaminated water tragedy in Walkerton, Justice Dennis O’Connor recommended that all municipalities be required to ensure that their water and sewage systems are properly financed to avoid another contaminated water crisis. In response to this recommendation, in 2002, the Ontario government passed new legislation requiring municipal drinking-water and sewage systems to develop financial plans to fully cover their costs.  However, this legislation has never been implemented. Instead, in August 2007, the Ministry of the Environment developed an entirely new regulation that merely requires municipalities to set out a financial accounting of their drinking-water systems.

The ECO is very disappointed that this new regulation does not require municipalities to recover the full costs of their drinking-water systems, to charge municipal water users appropriate fees, or to develop any financial plan at all for their sewage systems.  This regulation does little to address the major infrastructure deficits that threaten the safety of the province’s drinking-water and sewage systems.  The ECO is concerned that by not requiring municipalities to charge water users appropriate rates for water services, the regulation fails to encourage water conservation.

A copy of the full report can be downloaded here.

I have my doubts that Ramara township has a viable and sustainable plan for the adequate up-keep of this municipal infrastructure.  I have made numerous requests, but to date I have not seen any documented plan. 

It's a fact that over $500,000 of taxpayer $$$ paid for the majority of pre-construction costs of the sewer line expansions for approx. 150 homes and businesses in Brechin.   

Now I'm reading in the Packet that some home-owners lack the means to pay the up-front connection costs (the capital costs for the expansion are to be paid over 30 years).  I have written to council that I do not support any further subsidy for these select few.  I recommend that concerned ratepayers also write to their councillor, with their objections.