Lund sewer system users are facing a potential seven per cent increase in fees in 2021.
At the December 21 meeting of the qathet Regional District board, directors gave the first three readings to the Lund user rates amendment bylaw but did not adopt the bylaw at the meeting. Adoption will be considered at a meeting in 2021.
At the preceding December 16 finance committee, where the matter was introduced to the directors, chair and city director George Doubt said he had a concern about moving the matter to the board meeting in December for adoption, which was two working days from the finance committee meeting. Doubt said there was no agenda published yet for that meeting, and the public that will be paying the increase will have little or no way to find out the board would be considering passing a seven per cent increase in fees in that time.
“I feel really bad with the concept of moving and passing these things within a three- or four-day period and passing that onto the taxpayers without an opportunity for them to talk about it,” said Doubt.
Electoral Area A director and board chair Patrick Brabazon said as the director for the Lund area, he would like to respond that these are service charges the regional district really cannot ignore.
“The cost of operating this service is rising,” said Brabazon. “Sewage is one of those services which we simply cannot shut down. If this is what it costs to operate it, we have no choice.”
Doubt said he agreed with Brabazon that it costs what it costs to operate the sewer system but his understanding is the matter would be coming to the board meeting in a limited time and there would be a discussion then about how far the board goes in the approval process.
Chief administrative officer Al Radke said one of the reasons why the matter was being brought before directors at the finance committee meeting was so the bylaw would be in place January 1, and that all of the fees and charges are then applicable for that fiscal year. He said if the board does delay it, which is in the board’s discretion, there will be some minor work on behalf of staff come the first billing period to ensure correct charges are provided for whatever period of time it takes before the bylaw is adopted or rejected.
Electoral Area E director Andrew Fall said part of the challenge is this is a service with a small user base. He said small changes in the revenues results in a big need. He said as Brabazon had stated, the costs are the costs and are borne by the service participants.
“There’s not much we can do,” said Fall. “I concur that it is unfortunate. It doesn’t look good and it’s an unfortunate situation to try and do this in three days. We’ll have to think about that and discuss this at the board meeting. If anyone in the Lund area is concerned, delaying that until January might be okay but it doesn’t come for free. There is a bit of a disruption.”
Manager of financial services Linda Greenan said there was a bit of a problem for billing; if the increase doesn’t come into effect until February 1, that’s one month that the board misses out on the seven per cent increase. She said there would also be a reduction in the contribution to the sewer reserve fund, which at $39,000 after the latest contribution would be quite small for a sewer service.
The finance committee voted to send the matter to the regional board meeting.
