OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). This letter is in response to a letter from Larry Herr regarding water hookup fees in Horseshoe Valley, published May 18.
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It appears Larry Herr wants to “hose” other Oro-Medonte water users by having them subsidize his water bill.
Horseshoe Valley has two water systems. The older area where water is provided by a private supplier is termed Zone 1. The newer area where water is provided by the township is termed Zone 2.
For years many of the Zone 1 residents of Horseshoe Valley have asked successive councils to have their water, that for decades has been provided by a private supplier, to be connected to the township system.
It was not until the township allocated millions of water user dollars to drill another well, build water storage and other infrastructure that it was possible to implement their request. As water is a user-pay system, all these costs are borne by the existing municipally provided users.
Those in Zone 1 did not contribute to the costs of the infrastructure in the newer Zone 2 area of Horseshoe Valley or any of the other municipal water systems in Oro-Medonte.
There are substantial costs for the connecting lines and upgrading the aging infrastructure within Zone 1 to the municipal system.
Council engaged KPMG, an arm’s-length accounting firm, and legal counsel to determine a fair cost for Zone 1 users to connect to the municipal system. This resulted in a recommendation of $9,300 per Zone 1 dwelling unit for hookup fees. Many of the Zone 1 residents were not happy with this amount.
Through consultation, council agreed that that fee could justifiably be reduced to $7,100. This could be achieved by utilizing infrastructure fees the township held back from administering the collection fees for the private Zone 1 supplier and other considerations.
To soften the impact the payment fee was structured to be paid back over a 25-year period at zero per cent interest. This amounts to about 80 cents a day.
Before proceeding, the township polled the Zone 1 residents to provide the details of the proposed agreement and the majority agreed to move forward with the township moving forward in assuming the Zone 1 system. Otherwise, Zone 1 would be continuing with the private supplier.
A Zone 1 group, including Mr. Herr, appears adamant that they should be permitted to hook up at no cost to the infrastructure paid for by other users. After hooking up for free they would enjoy an additional financial benefit of having other water users contribute to revitalizing the aging infrastructure in the Zone 1 system.
Mr. Herr’s opinion letter appears to be another attempt to advance this no-cost-to-Zone 1 agenda. Initially, a group of the Horseshoe Valley Zone 1 residents established a GoFundMe campaign to finance their lawsuit against the township.
Subsequently, the executive of the Horseshoe Valley Property Owners Association (HVPOA) approved up to $10,000 from membership fees to help them with their cause. These funds were used to create a corporation with a somewhat misleading name of Oro-Medonte Ratepayers Association (OMRA).
This has the appearance of the HVPOA using membership fees to assist this newly formed association to sue the township, including the residents of Zone 2, using money collected from Zone 2 residents themselves.
As all costs, including legal, of municipally provided water is paid by the water users it does not impact the general tax.
Before taking legal action one wonders why the OMRA did not simply approach the existing water users. If they can convince them to support their water hookup at no cost and share in the aging Zone 1 infrastructure upgrades, it is unlikely council would disagree.
If not successful the Zone 1 water users could remain with the private water supplier and avoid the hookup fee. However, there is the risk of their water bills escalating to pay the costly infrastructure upgrades to their private water supplier.
Candidates in the upcoming municipal election supported by the OMRA and the core executive of the HVPOA, to be elected, will undoubtedly need to commit to have Zone 1 water hooked up at no cost to the Zone 1 users.
If successful, this will end up costing each existing municipal water user in excess of $1,000 to cover the hookup costs.
Ralph Hough
Deputy mayor, Oro-Medonte Township
