Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: August 24, 2010 7:00 PM
Coldstream is paying an unexpected sewer bill. Council has given third reading to a bylaw that will allow it to use reserve funds and increase user fees to pay additional funds being sought by Vernon, which owns and operates the sewer treatment plant. “We had no choice at all,” said Coun. Pat Cochrane. Treatment and disposal costs sought by the city could reach $850,000, and given the district’s budget of $575,000, it was facing a potential shortfall of $275,000 for 2010. Customers have been charged $1.26 per cubic metre for the sewer service, but $1.54 per cubic metre is required to cover Vernon’s request.
Because Coldstream hadn’t known about these extra costs in advance, funding options had to be considered. “It made the most sense with the direction we took,” said Cochrane. Mayor Jim Garlick says there weren’t enough reserves set aside to cover the additional expense, so user rates had to go up. “It’s going to upset people. We told them there would be a lower rate at budget time,” he said. Coun. Gyula Kiss was the lone vote against the bylaw, and he says that was only done to continue awareness about the actions of former councils. “The previous council took money from reserves and built a sewer line to Coldstream Meadows. That’s why we don’t have enough money now,” he said. “We had reserves for these kinds of occasions.”
Coldstream hopes to avoid these situations with Vernon in future. “We need to improve our communications and get information in a more timely fashion,” said Garlick.
4 comments:
Coldstream, here's your answer.
Get on board big time with the Vernon plan to devolve GVW. Especially now since your residents have been taken off the Kal water and put on Duteau source. As soon as none of your residents are on the Kal source announce plans to construct your own high tech sewage treatment plant, and pump your effluent into Kal Lake.
This way somebody begins to understand the cause and effect of bucking regional cooperation. It's called natural justice.
If we had some reasonable reporting in the Morning Darkness,we would have an explanation of what the cost increases were. But no,all we get from the rag is what the politicians hand them
Haha, now that would be natural justice, Anon #1!
All we get from that rag is how wonderful Sparking Hill Resort works together with another business that needs to get its name in the paper for free... why is this news?
Meanwhile, an electoral area director has to fork out $600 taxpayer dollars (!!!) to pay the MorningStar (!!!) to publish a story to thank residents in his area (!!!) for forking out their own dollars to put in a fire hydrant?
Something is truly wrong here... perfect for a thesis project to examine the role the Morning Star plays in fomenting regional dysfunctionality?
You gotta admit, it sells newspapers. Of course its a free newspaper, so that argument is gone. Wonder if anybody has ever approached the businesses that advertise in the paper to see what they think about how dysfunction might affect the long-term viability of the businesses to the point where they might wanna consider advertising elsewhere.
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