Area C director Mike McNabb is saying some fairly inflammatory things about the water referendum. These need to be addressed. McNabb: “I think the $70 million was a scary-large number for people.” Anderson: This assumes that two thirds of the voters of Greater Vernon are intellectually defunct and simply voted no because its a big number. In point of fact people voted no for a host of different reasons: some because they believe we already have clean water; some because they think if the provincial government insists on extra-pristine water, they can darned well pony up some cash; some because they believe the technical aspects of the plan are faulty; some because we already have the highest water rates in the Okanagan; some, like me, who are extremely wary of the financing implications; and there are probably a host of other reasons people voted no. Im fairly certain no one voted no because they couldnt count the zeros in $70,000,000. I find that insulting to the voters of Greater Vernon. McNabb: “I can’t help but think this was a political position to take with the election coming up.” Anderson: Damned right it was. Someone has to stand behind the two thirds of voters who dont want to pay $70,000,000 for fixing a water system thats not broken. And is Mr. McNabbs position somehow NOT a political position? Labelling those who disagree with him as a bunch of opportunistic politicians is irresponsible and insulting, to put it mildly. McNabb: “But if you look at it per user, it’s not that huge a chunk of change.” The average domestic customer’s water bill will rise an additional $36 a year, each year, for five years and then maintain at that level for another 15 years. Ill let Bob Spiers comment on this one (from his Vernonblog): Spiers: What this means is that year 1 the average customer who uses 43.75 m3 per quarter will see a $36 increase. In year 2 the increase will be $72. In Year 3 will be a further $108 increase, in year 4 will require an additional $144 increase while year 5 will top out when full $70 million is borrowed at $180. THEN for years 6-20 (Until loan paid off) will see this same additional $180 each year. Final total $3,240 =180*15+36+36*2+36*3+36*4+36*5 Anderson: But thats NOT the final total...thats just what will be ADDED to our already skyrocketing water bills. And thats assuming that interest servicing costs stay at 4%...a ridiculously optimistic assumption, given that we are in a period of artificially maintained and historically low interest rates that are extremely unlikely to stay there for the 20 years it will take to pay this off. And its also assuming that there will be no cost overruns...of the kind that have plagued every single stage of the water saga in Vernon. McNabb: By stamping our feet saying you must do the funding, that’s not going to happen.” Anderson: No one knows what will happen, so making blanket statements like this is irresponsible. Besides, no one has asked the province to fund it all...the usual infrastructure breakdown is 1/3 municipal/regional, 1/3 provincial, 1/3 federal. What we do know is that the voters said no, so the ball is now in IHAs court, and by extension in the provinces court. That certainly doesnt ensure that the province will kick in funding, but it does mean that we wont, and that because of that the province will have to move this onto their radar screen. In politics the squeaky wheel truly DOES get the grease. We already know that IHA has no intention of lowering the boom on us...according to Dan Byron, IHSs spokesman: Enforcement options under the Drinking Water Protection Act will only be considered if provincial drinking water objectives cannot be met through these collaborative efforts.” This of course is political speak for we are unlikely to do anything. Further, if by some chance IHA decided to enforce it, following the will of the 70% who voted against the plan would mean that we should, as a region, take legal action to force the province to prove that theres a health risk. Since the province has already lost one such challenge - and that was over Victoria pumping raw sewage into the ocean - it is extremely unlikely that they could win a case against us over water that already falls smack in the middle of the range of water cleanliness in BC. Instead of using scare tactics and browbeating his colleagues and the vast majority of the people of Greater Vernon, Mr. McNabb would do well to listen to what people are saying. Theres a funny thing about democracy: more often than not the great mass of people are right far more often than the so-called experts.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 03:58:21 +0000
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