CORNWALL, Ontario – Monday night’s City Council meeting saw two attempts to pass a water and sewer budget for 2017 fail.
The budget steering committee recommended to council a 1.43 percent, or roughly $135, 000, increase to the water and sewer budget.
“I would make a motion that we don’t have an increase this year,” Councillor Andre Rivette said.
The City’s Chief Financial Officer Tracey Bailey however remarked that while the revenue increase that was being requested would bring the water and sewer billings to zero, it would not bring the account rates to zero as well.
Rivette noted that the water and sewer budget was well over its target for its emergency reserve and that the money should be taken from there to cover the increase in the budget for this year.
The administration has recommended that the City maintain a $3.5 million dollar reserve in case of a catastrophic failure. Currently, that reserve stands at $4.2 million, $700, 000 over the recommended reserve.
Councillor Denis Carr who chairs the Budget Committee warned against tampering with the emergency reserves for water and sewer.
“Mr. St. Marseille explained to us that these reserves can disappear really quickly,” Carr said. “When you talk about sewer and water there are things you can’t plan for. We’ve got to be very prudent and I’ve always been against taking money from reserve to fix problems we have with taxes or the budget.”
The 1.43 percent increase to the water and sewer budget would translate into roughly $1 per month more on residents’ household water bills.
In other words, by voting against the increase, Council would be putting $12 back in the pocket of each resident.
“This is can be a good show of faith to the people of the City of Cornwall.” said Councillor Justin Towndale. “We are here to make decisions and I think the decision this year is to fund this increase from reserves.”
Mayor Leslie O’Shaughnessy weighed into the debate with a counter option.
The Mayor wanted to see the increase passed so that the reserves instead could be used to pay for fixing the Lemay Street Road after the water and sewer work had been done there.
“Instead of putting $12 back into taxpayers pockets, you could be putting $20,” the Mayor told council.
Rivette argued strongly against that idea as he felt that water and sewer money should be spent on water and sewer projects and road’s money should be spent on road’s projects.
“The money to fix York and Bedford streets after water projects there, where did that money come from,” the Mayor asked City General Manager for Infrastructure and Municipal Works John St. Marseille.
Marseille confirmed that the money had indeed come from the water budget.
The motion to pass the 1.43 percent increase to the water and sewer budget failed after the vote was tied at 5-5.
Councillor Rivette then presented another motion calling for the 1.43 percent increase to the water and sewer budget to be paid for from reserves, that motion also fell to a 5-5 tie.
“You go and stand up at corner of Pitt & Second and defend your position,” Rivette told the Mayor after the vote to which the Mayor replied he’d be happy to.
Councillor Carilyne Hebert was not at the council meeting on Monday night. She very well may be the tie breaker when council returns to consider this issue at a special meeting of Council at 6 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 19.
