By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Presented with three options by their consultant on more equitable storm-water management fees, Cobourg council at this week’s June meeting voted to move from the calculation based on acreage that has alarmed so many property owners to move to a system that sets a flat fee for all properties up to one acre.
This system would levy additional charges for land area over one acre for commercial, industrial and institutional properties. In response to presentations from the gallery, the council motion – passed in a recorded vote with only Councillor Randy Barber and Mayor Lucas Cleveland in opposition – also has the new rate structure taking effect retroactively as of Jan. 1, 2024.
Council has also directed Lakeshore Utility Services Inc. to reconcile their billings as far back as 2023, and to waive interest on all outstanding invoices until further notice.
As well, cemeteries have been reclassified as vacant land, greatly reducing costs to these non-profit operations.
The decision was made after literally several hours of debate and, at one point, council had passed the same motion with a different option from the consultant’s report. Cleveland had urged sticking with this option, feeling that it did not penalize commercial, institutional and industrial properties to the same extent as the final option chosen.
The process involved a five-minute adjournment in order to clear the gallery during a presentation on storm-water management fees.
Always a contentious issue, it had been addressed by six of the many people in the gallery. And Cleveland had to call for order several times during the presentation by the consultant on options being considered. In the end, that part of the room had to be cleared.
Peter Simcisko of Watson and Associates presented details of three options they had prepared that would address some of the inequities members of the gallery had been concerned with under the current method of recovering costs based on acreage.
The stormwater infrastructure – storm sewers, manholes, catch basins, stormwater ponds, pump stations, outlet points and oil-and-grit separators – requires an estimated $1.6-million annually. Until recently, the town had been spending $410,000 annually on this service, “a notable funding gap.”
To assess based on actual runoff from individual properties would have been both challenging and expensive, Simcisko added. But basing fees on acreage proved unduly burdensome to what he characterized as a relatively small contingent of property owners.
The option chosen by council in the end will result in 80% of property owners paying more, but these increases should be minor in nature.
The final motion directs staff to prepare a bylaw based on the selected option, providing an implementation plan for final review and approval by council in September.
