Waste rate hike surprises district

Brent Mutis - Vernon Morning Star Published: July 31, 2010 12:00 PM

The District of Coldstream received an unpleasant surprise when the sewer invoice for the first quarter of 2010 was received. Coldstream sends a significant percentage of its liquid waste to Vernon for treatment but a communication breakdown seems to have made a rate hike to $1.54 per cubic metre come as a bit of a shock to Coldstream. Coun. Pat Cochrane says the district should be paying their share but notes it would have been nice to know about the price raise in advance. “I guess it’s not a surprise it went up but there was not proper notification,” said Cochrane. “I felt there was the ability for the city (of Vernon) to provide the appropriate communication.” The rate increase puts Coldstream in a shortfall of $275,000 as customers there are currently charged only $1.26 per cubic metre. Council opted to make up for the difference by dipping into surplus and reserve funds. But that course of action doesn’t sit well with everyone. Though the recommendation passed, Coun. Maria Besso voted against taking money from surplus. “I don’t feel comfortable taking it all out of reserves,” she said.

According to a report from Trevor Seibel, the district’s director of financial administration, the depletion of the reserves would likely lead to a considerable rate increase for customers in 2011. “It puts council in a really awkward position,” said Cochrane. “It does blindside residents when we, as representatives, can’t inform them ahead of time.” Other options to make up for the shortfall included increasing sewer rates for customers or funding it from a combination of increased user rates and reserve funds. The rate increase is to help pay for $500,000 in improvements to the City of Vernon’s liquid waste management plan and $1.6 million in capital costs for the city’s bio solids facility. Coldstream is looking into whether or not their customers should pay for collection in Vernon’s system as the district has their own independent collection system.