The city held two public hearings at the Royal Canadian Legion in Thompson on March 24, focusing on bylaws to establish a rate for water, storm and sewer service line maintenance, and a second bylaw to authorize the expenditure and borrowing of money for the purchase of waste disposal carts.
City council first discussed with the 30 or so people present that the proposed bylaw for waste disposal carts. The City of Thompson is proposing a waste and recycling program within the city that promotes the reduction of waste and greenhouse gases and the improvement of employee safety. Under this program falls the purchase of new waste and recycling trucks and waste and recycling carts for each residence in Thompson.
Randy Patrick, chief administrative officer of the City of Thompson, says funding for the trucks and recycling carts has been received and the City of Thompson suggests the funding for waste carts be secured through a local improvement levy on all residential properties and properties classified as institutional that have received waste carts and received residential waste pickup.
According to Patrick, the total cost of the waste carts - including purchase, assembly, delivery and advertising - will be $200,001.25. He says a one year debenture of the same amount will be issued at a rate of interest not to exceed 6.35 per cent. The city estimates that there are 3,187 properties which this levy will apply to, where each owner will be assessed a local improvement tax of $66.76 this year. Patrick adds that the city anticipates that under this program, operating costs of the city and the Thompson Recycling Centre will be reduced in labour, maintenance costs and fuel.
Residents who attended the meeting voiced their concern that the city issued a notice last year telling residents to purchase new garbage bins with locking lids, and then made citizens buy the newly appointed waste bins shortly after. While on the topic of waste and recycling, the issue of public drop-off zones was brought up, with some individuals claiming the drop-off box at the Thompson Zoo is nowhere near large enough or properly taken care of.
Citizens in attendance were given a chance to submit a formal objection form before the meeting was adjourned. The issue will come up again at city council's next meeting where they will read the by-law for the first time, then send it to the municipal board for approval or reject. If it is approved, council will have to read it a second and third time to make it official.
After that city council held the public hearing concerning the bylaw about the rate for water, storm and sewer service line maintenance for 2010 to 2015. According to the city, since Thompson's infrastructure is now around 50 years old, the community is experiencing a "significant increase" in breaks to maintenance lines, which leads in turn to an increase in expenses.
The City of Thompson had been working to move to a fee-for-service model to recover the full cost of the repair. Patrick says each repair to service lines costs about $5,000, while the proposed program to repair them would include a charge of $2,000 to individual households with the remainder being paid for through the general levy.
Due to a public outcry regarding the proposed $2,000 charge, city council is now proposing that potential taxpayers - including, in this case, all residential property owners and owners of properties classified as institutional, with a one-inch or smaller service line directly from the main (not including commercial, rental complexes or apartment buildings) - will take full responsibility of any break that occurs one metres or less from the structure, as well as the cost to repair or replace private sidewalks, driveways, trees, shrubs or structures. The program excludes water, storm and sewer lines which are plugged or frozen due to lack of maintenance from the owners own activity.
Patrick says it's estimated that there are 3,183 properties within the City of Thompson that will each be charged a special levy of $68.94 in 2010. He notes the amounts will be adjusted lower or higher depending on the previous year's actual cost, and if the levy is adjusted higher council promises to hold a public hearing before amending the plan.
Again, citizens at the meeting were given a chance to file an official objection form opposing the bylaw. But for the most part, the people who went to the public hearing, while asking many questions, were in support of the new bylaw. A few people stressed the need for the City of Thompson to not simply continue fixing the breaks but to replace the entire water/sewer system, which Mayor Tim Johnston says is part of the city's dealings with CH2M Hill.
