Photo: Goderich Town Hall
Goderich town council heard a report regarding a financial plan for the water and wastewater systems.
Ryan DeVries, a partner with BM Ross outlined the financial picture for water and wastewater services.
“The water system generates revenue of around $3.3 million, it costs around $1.2 million to operate,” said DeVries. “The reserves [as of] the end of last year was just under $9 million.”
He explained that the goal for the new plan, which is expected to cover six years, would be to find a viable solution for maintaining services while dealing with ongoing operations and repairs, while also planning for future equipment replacements as components reached their lifespans.
The plan devised by BM Ross incorporated roughly $9.4 million worth of capital upgrades over the next six years. They decided to incorporate plans for such upgrades after conversations with municipal staff, and operators.
To meet that goal, BM Ross outlined three options:
– Maintain current service levels with no rate increase
– Introduce a 1.2% annual rate increase: in increasing consumer costs, it would allow the town to build up reserves by the year 2030, which would maintain the current rate of replacement
– A 7.4% rate increase per year: increasing a much higher cost would reduce the rate of replacement to match the current life expectancy of current water assets
Council approved the proposed drinking water financial plan with the 1.2% increase.