Kincardine Council is changing how the costs of municipal water systems in Scott’s Point and Underwood are paid for.
In December, a motion was passed requiring each property owner connected to the system to pay 35 hundred dollars towards capital upgrades.
There is currently a 78 hundred dollar deficit per customer for the Scott’s Point upgrades, and the amount is 38 hundred per customer in Underwood.
Some of the cost is covered by a provincial grant.
The balance was to be paid for using reserves for Ward 3, the former Bruce Township.
About 30 residents of both communities were at Wednesday’s council meeting to voice their concerns about the cost.
Scott’s Point resident John King says the 35 hundred dollars was a hardship for some residents and many new residents in the community were unaware of the charges when they moved in.
Council has instead decided to totally finance the deficit by using the Ward 3 reserve fund, but will still charge 300 dollars to each customer that will go back into those reserves.
Councillor Kenneth Craig opposed the move, and would have rather seen each user pay 1500 dollars instead.
Councillor Randy Roppel thinks the 300 charge is acceptable.
Reserve money hasn’t been used to a large extent in the past when work was done on other municipal water systems.
John King says they aren’t comparing “apples to apples,” but believes the process wasn’t fair to residents of Scott’s Point and Underwood and no set system exists for dispensing reserve money and he doesn’t see how it is being used as unfair to other ratepayers.
About 80 homes are affected.