THUNDER BAY -- Shelby Ch'ng needs some questions answered before she decides whether to approve of a proposed sewer surcharge increase.
City council will vote on the 20-year wastewater system financial plan Monday that includes a hike in the sewer surcharge from its current 75 per cent to 90 per cent.
The increase would go towards rising operating and capital costs of the city's system. That would be on top of the proposed three per cent increase to the water rate. Coun.
Ch'ng said she's been seeing her water bill increase like everyone else and wants to know if there's another way to help keep rising costs down. She wants the city to apply to the federal government's Building Canada fund, the same fund the city has applied to for the proposed event centre, to help pay for some of its infrastructure.
"I think we can have two applications in," she said.
"It couldn't hurt."
The city was mandated by the province to show a financial plan to pay for its drinking water system, which was first adopted in 2010 and approved again in 2013. Ch'ng said the city obviously needs to protect its assets but it also needs to protect the people it's serving to make sure the city they're living in is affordable.
Also Monday, the city will hear from residents near Golf Links Road concerned about environmental compliance as work continues on expansion. An update on its climate adaptation strategy is expected as is a call my mayor Keith Hobbs to improve pedestrian and vehicle safety on Francis Street near St. Anne School.
