The meters will be running

Councillor Mike Anthony speaks to his motion to have the water meter billing delayed until January 1st, 2016. That motion was defeated by a tie vote. 

City Council has voted, via a tie, to continue with the water meter project the way it is.

That means city residents will begin paying for metered water September 1^st.

Councillor Mike Anthony tried to pass a motion at Monday’s meeting to delay the billing until at least January 1^st.

He says his reasoning is simple: the city, and its residents, are not ready.

“I did my best to make it clear around the table that I really do fear that we as a community are not ready for this. I am not sure we have the city hall staff resources ready if this does not roll out smoothly. I hope I’m wrong.”

Anthony says with so few city residents signing up to the portal to see their current rates and any changes they will see in their bills, they may not be prepared for what will come.

He feels the city is simply moving too fast.

“So if you're ready to roll it out September 1^st and you just discovered last week you’ve got a deficit how accurate are our numbers. We did a sampling of 60 houses in the community, but there are seventeen thousand water users. I just fear we are going to see some very upset, ‘sticker shock’ people who don’t have a chance to get used to the system, won’t be aware that they have leaks, haven’t had a chance to adjust their usage. At my last check about a third of the seventeen thousand water users logged on to the portal to check their usage. “

But Councillor George Maroosis, chair of the special committee examining the issue, says the process is in place, and the cost of not implementing the plan would be just as bad, if not worse, considering the deficit already being faced.

He feels the best solution is to get the meters working, and make sure the billing is fair.

“We are going to work very hard to solve the inequity. The inequity between the classes has been the major problem as far as I’m concerned.  The reason we put water meters in was two-fold: to promote conservation and surely that will, and secondly to have a fairer system, so that user pay. That’s going to happen as well”

One by one, during a forty minute debate, council discussed the reasons for or against implementing the delay.

Just before voting, an amendment to the original motion was suggested, changing the start-up of the metering from January 1^st to March 1^st.

However, both motions went the same way.

Councillors Chris Mayne, Tanya Vrebosch, George Maroosis, Deputy Mayor Sheldon Forgette, and Mayor Al McDonald all voted to defeat the motion, while Anthony, Derek Shogren, Jeff Serran, Mark King and Daryl Vaillancourt voted for the delay. 

With Councillor Mac Bain away, the tie vote scuttled the motion. 

The bottom line is that meters,  pay for usage, will go ahead September 1^st as planned.

Maroosis says he understands the reaction the residents will have when the bills come in.

“We all hate change. Water meters are not rocket science. It’s hard to find a municipality that doesn’t have water meters. It’ll be harder to find after North Bay switches on. “