The Citizen, 2010-02-18, Page 13Brussels will be fed a steady dietof water and sewage rate increasesover the next five years according tothe new Huron East water and
wastewater financial plan.
The plan approved at Huron East
council’s Feb. 2 meeting includes
increases in water, sewage and
connection fees to be implemented
over the next five years.
The rates are tied into the new
PSAB (Public Sector Accounting
Board) system that municipalities
are now mandated to use, which
takes depreciation into account when
listing assets, including water and
wastewater facilities.
In addition to the rate increases,
there will also be a hike in the
Brussels and Seaforth water
connection fee. The rates, which
previously sat at $1,000 for a
connection in one of the two towns,
will now be $2,500 per connection.
These rates, says treasurer Brad
Knight, will hopefully bring each of
the municipality’s wards to a
positive cash position by 2015 tobegin to make headway for potentialmaintenance and upgrade costs inthe future.Without factoring in connectionfees, the water and sewercommittee’s recommended rate
increase would bring the water
system in Brussels from $102,196 in
cash at the end of 2009 to $764,173
by the end of 2015. Similarly, the
Brussels sewage system, with the
new monthly rates applied will go
from a $549,678 cash position at the
end of 2009 to $890,037 by the end
of 2015.
Knight, however, did note that
neither the Brussels water or
wastewater system was in any
significant financial jeopardy and
that the increases are building upon a
strong foundation that has already
been established.
A report compiled in 1983 stated
that throughout the Brussels water
system there are over 8,400 metres
of cast iron watermains. Most of the
system is dated back to 1951 and
with a useful life span of 50 years,
Knight says that many of the
existing watermains in Brussels havelittle or no remaining book value asfar as the PSAB accounting systemis concerned.By the end of 2015, with HuronEast’s increases, both Brussels andSeaforth will end up in the same
place, with a combined monthly cost
of service of $86. Both started at
$61.50 for combined services in
2009 and they will gradually
increase to a position in 2015 where
Brussels residents will owe $44 for
water and $42 for sewer per month,
while Seaforth residents will owe
$40 for water and $46 for sewer each
month.
Water rates that currently sit at $30
per month will be increased to $34
per month in Brussels for 2010,
eventually working their way up to
$44 per month in 2015.
The village’s sewage system will
see similar increases, going from
$31.50 per month to $32 per month
in 2010 and eventually up to $42 per
month by 2015.
However, Knight said, when
comparing Huron East to other
municipalities throughout Huron
County, the municipality still comesup short of many others. Knight saidthat the cost of water and sewer inSeaforth or Brussels in 2015 iscomparable to the cost of water andsewer in Goderich right now.Some councillors felt that making
the change to metered water in the
near future would be in the
municipality’s best interests.
Councillor David Blaney said that
it would be unfair and very
expensive to mandate metered water,
especially on some of the
municipality’s older houses, but
thought for new builds, it would be a
good start.
“We’re wasting water here unless
it’s metered,” councillor Bill Siemon
said. “There is too much waste
happening and we need to get
aggressive with our rates or go to a
metered system, because we’re
paying for it every year.”
Siemon said that while some
people are being conservative with
water, others aren’t.
“The people conserving water
need to be rewarded and then we’ll
see a drop in usage,” he said.
Other wards in Huron Easthowever, had not been so lucky.With the new water treatment plantin Seaforth and a significant deficitin Vanastra, those wards are seeinglarger increases and more significantfinancial concerns with their water
systems.
Seaforth’s water system ended
2009 with a $314,293 deficit and
hopes to finish 2015 with a $819,688
surplus after the new increases,
while Vanastra’s water system ended
2009 with a $60,533 deficit and
hopes to finish in positive numbers
by the end of 2015, while its
wastewater system finished 2009
with a $593,779 deficit and hopes to
climb above zero in 2015 with a
nearly $4,000 surplus.
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2010. PAGE 13. Water and sewage rates to increase in HE
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