To the Editor,
Cherry Creek residents should be aware of the fact that keeping an independent water system places a significantly larger financial burden on the shoulders of a considerably smaller tax base.
As outlined in the 2010 Regional Water Study, Option 1 would include the City of Port Alberni, Beaver Creek, and Cherry Creek combining systems and would cost Cherry Creek residents about $4.1 million dollars over 25 years.
Whereas going it alone and still meeting the province’s mandatory 4-3-2-1 requirements by 2013, according to the Regional Water Study will cost Cherry Creek residents about $5.5 million over 25 years.
In addition to paying an extra $1.4 million dollars over the 25-year term, the CCID will not have access to cost-saving loans and grants from the provincial and federal governments because it is not a part of a regional water system.
Finally, and more importantly, I seriously question the CCID’s ethics in preemptively raising the 2011 parcel taxes by 15 per cent in preparation for the government’s 4-3-2-1 condition, even though the taxpayers of Cherry Creek have never been formally presented a concrete plan by the Cherry Creek Improvement District.
A person paying taxes for a more expensive and ill-advised plan is bad enough, but a person paying taxes for a plan which he or she has never had the chance to inspect or scrutinize is a travesty.
Mike McDowall,
Cherry Creek