Proposed water rate hikes in Greater Vernon have been put on hold. Coldstream council has called for more discussion on the fees, concerned about the plan for 3.7% hikes in each of the next three years. Greater Vernon Advisory Chair Juliette Cunningham says the term of the plan is apparently not an issue. "We have kind of all agreed it would be nice to have a three year cycle, and I think it's pretty typical of a lot of utilities. They try to make it predictable for three years," Cunningham tells Kiss FM. Meantime, the committee has given approval in principal to a new 34 million dollar operating and capital water budget, up ten million from last year. Cunningham says upgrades pipes and systems will be part of the capital works this year. "There's no question we have aging infrastructure. We will have a better handle on that when the asset management is presented to us at the end of February." Vernon director Bob Spiers voted against the plan. "I have grave doubts why we should be charging today's (water) customers to build up reserves for future capital expenditures, such as filtration and others. And that's basically what we have done," says Spiers.
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Below is budget that was passed by a 6-2 vote. (Kiss & Spiers opposed)
https://rdno.civicweb.net/document/64786 (p.25-48)
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