A full house at the top of Field Road last Thursday brought into sharp relief the concern rippling through neighbourhoods where residents are facing steep increases in their wastewater treatment bills.
Halfmoon Bay resident Peter Galbraith spoke on behalf of those residents at the Sunshine Coast Regional District’s (SCRD) Jan. 23 corporate and administrative services committee meeting, urging directors to comply with staff recommendations to pause some increases, which they did, unanimously.
“The community is worried, and frankly it’s angry,” Galbraith told directors.
The SCRD is responsible for the maintenance of 15 small wastewater treatment plants across the Sunshine Coast, affecting 720 properties. A thorough asset management study found that aging infrastructure and insufficient frontage and user fees are resulting in imminent financial shortfalls.
Originally, the SCRD had proposed increasing fees 25 per cent “as a catch up” to make up for a lack of increases in the past. Since then a more thorough review of the service was conducted and five public engagement sessions were held in December and January, involving 150 residents.
Based on the feedback, at last Thursday’s meeting staff recommended:
• Continuing to gather public input to achieve “consensus” on a sustainable financial model.
• Increasing user fees enough for 2020 to fund this year’s operations and maintenance budget.
• Making “minimal adjustments” to frontage fees to provide a “steady” contribution to capital reserves.
That would amount to an increase this year of approximately $100 for most frontage fees, and an average combined increase of 78 per cent over 2019 frontage and user fees. Combined increases range from $54 for Woodcreek Park residents to $1,129 for Canoe Road residents.
Prior to the vote, Galbraith said residents were “angry” with the short notice given for the public information meetings, and a general lack of communication, especially to part-time residents. “It almost came across, unintentionally, that you were trying to push something through with as little input as possible,” he said.
Galbraith also said the original proposed rate structure “results in what can ultimately only be called a punitive approach to property owners, particularly current property owners.”
He said funding for the service should be divided three ways between reserves, debt financing and grants, and described the SCRD’s original proposal to secure up to 100 per cent of reserves through fees as “plain wrong.”
Halfmoon Bay director and SCRD chair Lori Pratt thanked Galbraith and acknowledged the “prolific” communication the board has received from residents. “I’ve heard you very strongly about what’s been said and the concerns,” she said. “It is a difficult position we’re in when we’re managing assets that the only way we can look after them is through the fees and taxation.”
After Galbraith’s presentation, members of the gallery were also invited to speak, which a handful chose to do, including a representative from the Painted Boat resort in Pender Harbour, who asked that directors consider including a separate category of rates for businesses such as his. “Painted Boat maintains the assets, we paid for it, we maintain it, we pump it every year, we have septic fills, so I’m coming in here, I get a little bit alarmed… As a business I ask myself, where could I increase my revenues by 25 per cent? Where could I charge 25 per cent more? I’m asking what am I really paying for?”
In addition to unanimously supporting staff recommendations, directors also voted to support a grant application seeking $42,500 to cover feasibility study costs for six wastewater plants needing major replacements and upgrades. If the grant is approved, the SCRD would have to cover a smaller portion of the costs for the studies.
In addition, Pratt made a motion to strike a task force that would analyze solutions – which was also unanimously approved.
There has been a 50 per cent increase in the number of wastewater services the SCRD manages over the last 15 years.
