In Debra Oakman's Oct. 5, 2009 Staff Report [link]to the Electoral Areas Service Committee she said there would be substantial savings if water meters were installed.
To fund the meters project money was taken from
- Bulk water rate increase funds $318,515
- Capital works reserves $654,032
- Community Works funds $435,753
More than $1,000,000 came from funds that could have been used for other qualifying projects in the EAs, inside or outside of the Local Water Service Areas.
In this email conversation in March 2010, I tried to convince the EA members of the Water Committee that
- Universal water metering would cost more than it is worth
- Meters won't reduce water use unless the rate structure penalizes those who use too much.
- Even if water use is reduced, the water service needs/wants the same revenue as before, therefore rates will rise.
Oakman's recommendation that this would save money was wrong.
Last month the Regional District board passed a bylaw (wording of the bylaw) (minutes of the meeting) to
- let the Water Service keep the funding that was intended for (unnecessary) water metering
- increase the bulk water rates for 2012 and 2013 due to the loss of revenue due to projected water conservation.
Voting to give the funds away rather than roll back the home water rates were
- Paul Ives - Comox mayor
- Patti Fletcher - Comox
- Greg Phelps - Courtenay mayor
- Murray Presley - Courtenay
- Bruce Jolliffe- Area A
- Jim Gillis - Area B
- Edwin Grieve - Area C
only Larry Jangula, Courtenay, voted "No".
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