It is not fair to residents of Broomhill who are being included in the sewer service area with the sole purpose of reducing the cost (through economies of scale) to core owners. Business owners can pass on their costs to their customers. The average homeowner can not.

Homeowners in the extended area will also end up subsidizing the cost to residents of the rest of Sooke as the initial expenditure will be far greater than any subsequent upgrades and piping that they will have to pay for when they are added to the system later. Broomhill is not the wealthiest district in Sooke last time I checked - I don’t think we can afford to bear the brunt of the cost from which all residents will eventually benefit.

Mayor Macgregor is quoted in the Mirror as saying that "The whole idea is those who are going to be asked to pay for the core area system will be voting on it." That seems fair, let the majority in the area affected decide.

If Broomhill voters don’t want it, they can easily vote against it. But, unlike a referendum where everyone affected gets only one vote, as I understand it, under a council initiative votes are based on sewer units so the core owners who stand to benefit the most from a sewer system get more of a say than the single family homeowner in Broomhill.

And in case you were thinking that Broomhill residents who really cannot afford to connect to the system will have some relief because Mayor Macgregor said so - think again. Low income earners (how many of them own their own home?) might obtain a CMHC grant/loan if they were to apply before January 2003- after that the program may not exist. The only other relief available at this time is the Homeowner Grant - if you already use up your portion there is no further assistance.

If Mayor Ed is correct that the election result is "an endorsement of our desire to see a sewer system come to Sooke," (as stated in a Victoria newspaper) then I believe that all those voters should pay for the system through municipal taxes based on property values for the expected shared benefit - growth of local businesses, more jobs, a senior’s centre, a laundromat, and more housing developments on unproductive farm land.

Let us be fair - not just appear to be fair. We either have a user pay tax - where the business owners and future developments pay for the sewer system themselves or a more equitable proportionate tax on all property owners in the district. It is patently unfair for Broomhill owners to be singled out.