It was noted that the recommendation for adopting the budget would be removed due to the elimination of the 4x4 truck purchase. Staff will return to the December 9 Council meeting with updated budget figures. Additionally, the $58,000.00 contract fee was noted to be missing in the Cardinal sanitary sewer budget. A handout with updated fees was circulated and is held on file.
Committee was provided with an overview of the report and discussed the following: the increase in revenues under the Industrial Park water budget, available water capacity for the Industrial Park area, and reallocating funding to draw more heavily from reserves.
A proposed 5.8% rate increase to water services; and a proposed 3.8% rate increase to sanitary services was noted. Members discussed the estimated revenue anticipated for reserves with the proposed increases, the allocation of the 2025 Ontario Community Infrastructure Funding (OCIF), and maintaining reserves to cover future costs associated with updating the 1989 Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA) for the Spencerville Lagoon.
Committee requested a breakdown of the estimated revenues realized following the implementation of the user rate increases, current departmental reserve balances, and re-allocating the majority of the costs to reserves with the remaining $100,000.00 covered by OCIF for the UV replacements at the Cardinal water treatment plant.