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Residents in Sooke are concerned about the imminent tax hikes to pay for the new sewer system. |
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Calendar of Events & Special Dates Letters Written and who to write The SLUDGE REPORTS |
Welcome to the SLUDGE REPORT The sewer committee flushes on There's something unrealistic about the deliberations of Sooke council's sewer committee. They haven't a clue whether or not their $24 million sewer application grant will get the OK but they are proceeding as if the money is already in the bank. What is that saying about counting chickens? Consultants' fees on his project are already around the $100,000 mark - money down the sewer, as the saying goes if council doesn't get the grant. At this week's meeting a suggestion by the consultant that the area to be sewered should extend as far as the Sooke River Hotel was shot down by Mayor Ed Macgregor who questioned whether or not there would be enough money in the pot to cover that part of Sooke which would require expensive pumping apparatus to pump sewage up the hill until it could be carried away by gravity flow. The consultant said she didn't think so, leaving one to wonder why she suggested it in the first place. The committee in line with the council's avowed intention to facilitate development and make the developers rich also spent some time gerry-mandering the boundaries of the area to be sewered to ensure that land with development potential could be connected to the pipe thus allowing prices to skyrocket. At best the consultant said the sewers cannot be up and running for five years - two years in the planning and three years in the construction - so the developers shouldn't hold their collective breaths waiting for the big bucks.And the question of when residents will have to bite the bullet and hook up, after the sewers are installed also came up. Seems that the council would favour giving everybody two years to hook up. And if they don't the council will do it for them and bill 'em plenty. Look for be some nasty confrontations from Sooke residents who don't like to be shoved around. |
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