Town council passed a resolution to approve an amended South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Commission (SRDRWC) business plan and a related increase to user rates at its regular council meeting on Oct. 22.
Town council was asked to approve the resolutions so that the SRDRWC can ask the provincial government for an increase to its debt limit to $22 million from the current $7 million. The increase will allow the SRDRWC to borrow more funds early in the new year to allow for continued construction of the line to take place.
The project is funded 90 per cent by the provincial government and 10 per cent by the participating municipalities. Most of the funds expended to date have been provincial funds, while the municipal portion will begin to be spent on the remainder of the line.
“It's time for us to start planning for putting waste down the pipe to Red Deer and there's some financial implications to that. We're just doing our financial models … now and full-blown the estimate is it's going to cost about $1.70 per cubic metre to treat water in Red Deer,” said Norm McInnis, the town's chief administrative officer.
The town would like to begin diverting some of its wastewater to the line beginning this spring to ease the load on the town's own wastewater treatment plant, which is nearing the end of its life expectancy. As a result, the town will be paying both the commission for partial treatment of its wastewater while also continuing to maintain its own plant until the Red Deer facility can safely take all of the town's wastewater.
McInnis said town residents won't be paying the full $1.70 per cubic metre in 2013, but will gradually be bumped up to that level.
“It's a major impact on our utilities here and there'll be certainly increased costs for the wastewater side of our utilities. This interim period is going to be a fairly expensive period for us for treating wastewater,” he said.
Once town residents begin paying the full $1.70 per cubic metre, it's not known how long that rate would last. The SRDRWC has a rate model that it will use to calculate what to charge member municipalities. McInnis said the town has been slowly increasing the wastewater rate to mitigate the price shock that will occur once the full rate kicks in.
There will be an opportunity for the public to find out how they might be impacted in the future by the rate increases prior to council considering the 2013 budget, which administration hopes is passed on Dec. 10.
The town would be required to decommission its own wastewater facility once it's fully online with the regional system. Larry Wright, the town's director of operations, told councillors that grants from various sources could be applied for to help with those costs.
"It's a major impact on our utilities here and there'll be certainly increased costs for the wastewater side of our utilities."Norm McInnis, CAO, Town of Olds
