Re: Sewage funding yet to materialize, News, Oct. 14, 2011.
If it’s correct that the federal contribution for this sewage plant boondoggle has shrunk to only one quarter of the $782 million sewage plant capital cost, when it had been one-third of capital costs, the Capital Regional District and B.C. taxpayers have just been quietly hit with a massive cost increase to pay for this unnecessary sewage plant.
The increase in the capital cost means that every Victorian who owns or rents a toilet could be likely paying more than the projected homeowner-renter charge of $400 a year, because the CRD residents’ the real cost of this fiasco isn’t just the projected building cost share, but also $20 million per year to run it and sewage plant and its sludge works.
Now with the shrinking federal contribution, the cost to each of us will be even higher. Restaurants and hotels will see massive utility cost increases.
However, because Victoria agencies providing subsidized housing or public toilets will need to increase their budgets to pay the sewage plant capital and operating costs, that extra funding also comes from CRD taxpayers.
So Victorians should be relieved at this delay because it gives us an opportunity to review the sewage plant decision and ultimately quash this unsustainable mega-project that provides no measurable environmental benefit, but a huge economic burden.
John Newcomb
Saanich