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By Brock Weir Due to increasing storms and water flows, the costs of maintaining Aurora's stormwater management system will “more than double” in the next 10 years, according to staff, and that could result in a hit on the taxpayer. Anca
Mihail, Aurora's Manager of Engineering, says costs are on the rise and a new
approach needs to be taken to make sure any hit on taxpayers is fair and
justified. In her
report to Council, Ms. Mihail said consultants retained by the Town have found,
after analysing several municipalities across the Province, stormwater
management per capita ranges from $17 to $51, and Aurora falls in the upper
half of that range at $36. An
additional study commissioned by Newmarket, she notes, pegged a “healthy per
capita stormwater budget” at $45 to $50. “Municipalities
in Ontario use a variety of approaches for recovering costs related to
stormwater management,” said Ms. Mihail. “Presently, many Ontario
municipalities have either recently completed or are in the process of
completing a review of their stormwater funding approach and rates. However, at
present, the most common or conventional form of funding…is the General
Property Tax Base, which means stormwater projects will compete with other
municipal priorities for funding. “Since
1998, Aurora removed the responsibility of funding the Town's stormwater infrastructure
from the property tax bill and established a user fee, creating a dedicated,
stable and predictable funding outlook for this type of infrastructure.” But, the
report casts doubt on whether this is a sustainable model moving forward. In order to
ensure funding stormwater infrastructure is “fair and equitable” for both
property owners and the municipality,” better options take several factors into
consideration, including geography. The
consultants, she said, suggest a “Development Intensity” model of funding as a
fairer option. “It is a
tiered rate system based on the type of property (runoff level) and property
size,” she said, noting that, if implemented, Aurora properties would be
divided into three runoff groups – low, medium and high – with industrial and
commercial developments being at the top of the scale. “With this model, a
small business would not be charged as much as a large business because of the
size of the property. Equally, measuring every property is not required because
of the average imperviousness of the runoff level group is used to calculate
the charge. This model balances simplicity and fairness since properties are
charged what they should be charged, yet it is not overly costly to administer. “However,
this model is significantly more complex to create and maintain than the
(current) tiered flat rate.” While the
adoption and implementation of this new funding model will be contingent on a
future study, the study itself received the formal green light at the most
recent meeting of Council. Speaking
to both this study and a related motion from Councillor Wendy Gaertner,
Councillor Michael Thompson stressed the cost of maintaining the system as-is,
and said there needs to be a buy-in from all levels of government. "The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario put out a report [that said] stormwater infrastructure deficit in Ontario alone is $6.8 billion and there are a number of reports and studies out there that talk about the various municipalities,” he said. “We cannot do it alone. You need the help of both the Federal and Provincial government to address the infrastructure deficit. AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) has been talking about it for years, so I just think there is a broader conversation. We can talk about levies and everything else to try and address some of those issues, but it will not be enough, no different from just a general infrastructure deficit in Ontario alone. There are bigger strategies that need to be talked about. “Everyone
in every municipality recognizes that financially they do not have the
resources to do it alone, that infrastructure deficit needs to be tackled and
we need to continue to advocate both provincially and federally to help us. At
the end of the day, and we have talked about this many, many, many times, that
of every tax dollar, municipalities only get nine cents of that dollar. The
rest goes to the Provincial and Federal, yet we own 60 per cent of the assets
in Ontario. We cannot replace the actual values. It is a serious concern."
Excerpt: Costs to maintain Aurora's existing stormwater management system will "more than double" over the next ten years due to climate change: report
Post date: 2019-08-08 08:55:14
Post date GMT: 2019-08-08 12:55:14
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