The mayor of St. John’s says planning to bring the city in line with the new federal wastewater regulations cannot happen until a cost sharing agreement is in place.
Danny Breen says the biggest issue with the wastewater regulations currently is the cost sharing formula which will see the city pay 33 per cent of the cost, the province pay 24 per cent and the federal government pay 43 per cent.
The city is working with both the province and the federal government to get that more in line with what the city feels it should be, which is equal cost sharing between them and the province.
In their latest municipal budget, the town of Gander had to increase taxes by 5 per cent due to upgrades to their system.
Breen says the city’s projections show all the costs with building and maintaining the new facility will have a significant impact on water taxes in the coming years for St. John’s as well, and it will be difficult to keep rates low.
He predicts that most municipalities in the province will struggle with the same issues as Gander in the coming years.
Breen says he hopes to have some sort of a resolution to the cost sharing issue sometime early in the new year.