Linking into Colwood sewer could get $10,000 cheaper.
The one-time fee is charged when a new users join the sewer and goes into a reserve fund to offset future costs of expanding the system.
But City engineer Michael Baxter said the province wonB次元官网网址檛 support including the fee in a new rate plan for sewage users that will be presentead to council next month.
B次元官网网址淭here are details weB次元官网网址檙e still working out, but we know that fee canB次元官网网址檛 be part of our new plan,B次元官网网址� Baxter said at MondayB次元官网网址檚 council meeting.
City staff, knowing the cost savings is on the way, have been advising residents to wait to join the system. Baxter asked council to remove the fee immediately to avoid a backlog.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e got a lot of people sitting on their hands waiting for the fee to disappear,B次元官网网址� Baxter explained. B次元官网网址淪ome need sewer quite desperately.B次元官网网址�
But none of the councillors were willing to put forward a motion to delete the fee, preferring instead to wait and consider all the changes to sewer rates together.
B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 no sense doing this piecemeal,B次元官网网址� said Coun. Cynthia Day.
Coun. Ernie Robertson suggested deleting the fee could evoke legal action from the property owners who originally paid to establish the sewer system in Colwood.
B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 want to move on this now if itB次元官网网址檚 at the expense of reaching a settlement with the upstream users,B次元官网网址� Robertson said.
Baxter said thereB次元官网网址檚 little benefit in continuing to collect the fee. ItB次元官网网址檚 only once been used to pay for new sewer lines. Currently the fund is going towards developing a sewer master plan.
B次元官网网址淚f we want to expand the sewer, we need a plan for how to do it,B次元官网网址� Baxter said.
The new rate proposal, aimed at standardizing sewage taxes across the municipality, is expected at the Oct. 10 meeting.
It will include merging the 56 local sewer service areas into six and basing the sewage tax rate on parcel tax, rather than the more variable property tax.
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