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Bashaw council not pleased with water rate jump

Council to suggest lower reserve for commission as way to hopefully lower water rate hike
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One unmetered water use the town must pay for, and may look at trying to track, comes from the twice yearly flushing of fire hydrants that has to be conducted. File photo

As expected, water was the dominant feature as Bashaw town council weighed options while it stares like a deer in the headlights at a significant rate increase.

During its Nov. 15 meeting — with Coun. Rob McDonald absent — council expressed dismay and a bit of bewilderment about the Highway 12/21 Regional Water Commission’s proposed 2019 budget, the new water rate and the need for such a big reserve fund.

The commission met on Nov. 7 where it presented the new budget with a rate water of $3 per cubic metre that would also generate a $60,000 reserve for future capital replacement.

READ MORE: Bashaw bracing to pay more for water next year

Coun. Rosella Peterman specifically questioned the need for that large of a reserve, given statements made in the commission’s business plan published three years ago.

“They did say the system infrastructure is newly constructed and should not need replacement for some considerable period of time. As well, including capital replacement funding in the rate structure at this time would significantly increase the already high rate,” she said.

“If you don’t need those reserves right away, why all of a sudden now — when it’s not even five years later — are we getting in a panic about putting up a big reserve?”

The proposal also stated it would use funds from matured debentures for future capital reserves, but that wouldn’t occur until 2032 at the earliest.

CAO Theresa Fuller explained that the commission’s administration earlier stated capital reserves of at least $70,000 annually would be needed in the interim to fully replace much of the water system’s computerized operational equipment.

On Dec. 7, the commission will meet to finalize the 2019 budget and that’s where Bashaw town council — which has two votes on the commission — feels it may find some support in hopes of lowering both items.

Peterman suggested, with the rest of council agreeing, that the commission representatives at the meeting put forward a request to drop the reserve amount in the interest of seeing the rate drop even a few cents.

“Just from the discussion around the table (at the Nov. 2 commission meeting) there are a number of commission members that weren’t too happy about the amount of the requested reserves,” stated Peterman.

“I don’t doubt that it is necessary, but maybe at the rate it is being collected isn’t.”

Options

Fuller stated administration is still looking at options as it will handle any rate increase.

“We are still working on the numbers for next year and on some solutions,” she said, adding it would likely be an advantage to open up the process to public for input and to create a better understanding.

“We know off the top that there will be an increase, as this year was subsidized and our revenue projections now are estimated to be about $50,000 short for 2018. I think we should be looking at this over multiple years and ways on how to deal with unmetered water.”

Part of any plans will include dealing with the significant amount of unmetered water use/loss the town has seen in its first year of buying water.

Fuller explained that currently the town office, shop, arena, community centre, some rental buildings and the fire department may or may not have water meters. This may be the reason for such a large differential in the amount the town pays the commission for water used and the amount billed out to users.

There is work that can be done — such as finding leaks and installing meters that don’t have one.

However, some difficult decisions need to be made regarding users of some facilities being required to pay for water.

“Should we be sending the community centre a bill? But it can be a domino effect too, as the pre-school and play school would be impacted,” Fuller said.



jordie.dwyer@ponokanews.com

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