Extending sewer service to the remaining one thousand homes in Okanagan Landing still on septic systems, is stirring up a debate on council. The city is putting together a new sewer extension policy for areas of the Landing currently serviced with on-site septic disposal systems. Councillor Patrick Nicol says some homeowners have been reluctant in the past to convert to the city service. "There's a reason and it's financial. The cost to some of them is quite prohibitive with the amount of money they have on fixed incomes, so at the very least the city should give them some public input into it." Councillor Bob Spiers is more concerned about potential costs to the city, saying using a "municipal fee' as a payment method could result in the city facing an 18 million dollar receivable. "And that scares the hell out of me." In a report to council, city financial technician Greg Thompson says the current city policy allows for council to approve a 1/3 subsidy towards the cost of extending city sewer to areas that staff deem to be a current or eminent environmental or health concern. "As many of the unsewered areas in the Landing are experiencing ongoing septic system failures, it is likely that the current subsidy policy will be requested more frequently." Thompson says instead of rewarding owners who wait for failure to occur, the subsidy policy should be updated to provide incentives for owners to connect to city sewer in a planned and orderly manner prior to mass failures occurring.
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