TAXES SHIFTED TO PAY FOR SEWAGE TREATMENT
Land-based system will result in huge increases to utility costs
Dr. Shaun Peck - Times Colonist - February 25, 2011
I live in Victoria and noticed that my recent utility bill showed an increase of 66 per cent on the rate at which I will be charged for Capital Regional District sewage costs. This is because Victoria, along with Saanich and Oak Bay, have or will be shifting this cost from the property tax to the utility charge.
At this new rate, based on last year's measured water use, I will be paying $102 annually. (This is in addition to the other utility charges -water service, garbage, city sewer and water consumption charges).
This charge is going to increase significantly in the years ahead based on funding the proposed landbased sewage treatment plants. (Preliminary estimate of $782 million and annual operating cost of $14.5 million). Even with cost sharing, the bill for City of Victoria households could be five to 10 times this, or in my case as much as $1,020 per year on the utility bill.
At present, the amount to be billed to the individual householder is theoretical and it appears from my inquiries that we will not know the cost until we get our utility bills. After the first year's true cost, there is no doubt there will be significant regular increases.
If the federal and provincial governments each share one-third of the capital costs, taxpayers will also be paying through income taxes, otherwise all the costs will be on the local householders and businesses.
Until recent years, most homeowners have found their utility bills to be a relatively low annual cost. However, if the construction of the land-based sewage treatment plants go ahead as planned, homeowners may only find out after the fact the huge increases they will be paying.
My total utility bill has increased 38 per cent in the past five years or 7.6 per cent per year. However, that can be expected to continue to increase -particularly if the City of Victoria shifts more costs onto the utility bill, such is being discussed for rainwater drainage, in addition to the CRD sewer costs.
This shift means that property taxes may not be raised as much (or could even be reduced, which is highly unlikely) but it is a tax shift or tax diversion from what has in the past been paid for with property taxes.
There is still time to review whether land-based sewage treatment is needed for Victoria. The evidence is that the marine environment treats our liquid waste naturally and very effectively after screening via the two engineered deep-sea outfalls.
Monitoring has shown a minimal effect on the ocean floor environment and there is no measurable public health risk.
This marine environment is unique. If the total environment is considered (marine, land and global), the land-based sewage plants will result in an overall negative effect compared with the current method of disposal of our liquid waste.
Householders who pay annual taxes or utility bills should be aware that there will be these surprising increases in the future if the $782-million sewage treatment megaproject goes ahead as planned. It will be a massive outlay of public funds equivalent to the cost of 10 Blue Bridges.
There is still time to reconsider the decision to build these sewage treatment plants. We need a comparison of the cost of the current system and its present effect on the environment compared with the proposed (likely underestimated) cost (including the operating cost) of the proposed treatment system and its overall environmental effect.
Let us hope that a new premier will reconsider the political decision that was made to order the CRD to plan for land-based sewage treatment.
- Dr. Shaun Peck was the medical health officer for the Capital Regional District from 1989-1995. He is a board member of the Association for Responsible and Environmentally Sustainable Sewage Treatment, www.aresst.ca