NORTHEAST TOWN—Residents of Little Current and Sheguiandah who utilize water and sewer services from the Town of Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands will be hit with another four percent increase in 2025.
CAO Dave Williamson told council that it is “very difficult” to find ways to generate savings from the two water systems because so much of the costs are out of the municipality’s direct control. “We need to provide safe drinking water,” Mr. Williamson said simply.
The Little Current water system is facing $231,700 worth of capital projects, including replacing 300 metres of old line on Vankoughnet Street East that is deemed to be in “critical shape” for $150,000. When prompted by Councillor Erskine as to when the project might take place, Mr. Williamson replied that the digging would commence as soon as the half-load restrictions are off.
Councillor Bill Koehler asked if there was funding available for the project. The CAO said not at this time, but they are looking.
On the sewer side, the municipality has $94,100 in capital projects planned.
“We continue to have a problem with high phosphorous,” he said, explaining that the municipality would be seeking the help of engineers to help them get the phosphorus numbers, and hopefully chemicals, down.
Mr. Williamson noted that $80,000 is spent annually for contracted services and the other $70,000 is spent on chemicals.
Sixty thousand has been budgeted for an engineering study on the Little Current lagoon.
“We’re running at over 76 percent lagoon capacity,” the CAO added. “Once you hit 80 percent, it triggers the MOE (Ministry of Environment).”
On the Sheguiandah side of things, Mr. Williamson began by noting the difficulty staff has in not contributing toward reserves and keeping taxpayers’ wallets in mind.
“It’s not sustainable to continue to operate at break even, especially when we take $73,000 out of reserves,” he said. “Basically, at four percent, it’s just break even.”
Mr. Williamson noted that more development in Sheguiandah is the answer to keeping water costs down, but that’s easier said than done. “We’re only using 30 percent of the plant’s capacity.”
The CAO told council that a filling station, similar to the one found at the Little Current arena, will be installed at the Sheguiandah water treatment plant that will allow those that need to fill up bulk containers of water the chance to do so from another, perhaps closer, location. This will shift some of the burden to the Sheguiandah plant and raise a little bit of money as well.
The $73,430 in capital projects will be taken from the reserve account, leaving $229,000 which, Mr. Williamson warned, would not last long should an emergency occur.
Dawn Orr, a Sheguiandah councillor, said the municipality should be pushing the province to step up and help small water systems. “They’re not sustainable for the people,” she said.
The new quarterly rate for Little Current residents (for both sewer and water) will be $288 (with a reserve contribution of $76,909) and $425 for Sheguiandah residents (with a reserve contribution of $15).
The motion was carried.
