February 17, 2012

-  LINK TO JACK HULL PRESENTATION AT CALWMC MEETING
-  GREAT QUOTE FROM ANDREW WEAVER - AND ITS NOT ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE! 
-  SAANICH & SEWAGE PLANT FUNDING - PAYMENTS ARE NOW STARTING FOR PLANT
-  VICTORIA'S PLAN TO TURN TAX DOLLARS INTO EFFLUENT (poorly researched story)
-  EARLY BUDGE FORECAST SHOWS AVERAGE SAANICH TAXPAYER CAN EXPECT TO PAY $120 MORE THIS YEAR 
-  CITY OF VICTORIA: "INFRASTRUCTURE DEFICIT CAN BE MANAGED, FINANCE DIRECTOR SAYS (doesn't include sewage plant)
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 LINK TO JACK HULL PRESENTATION AT CALWMC MEETING 

The 15-slide presentation by CRD's Integrated Water Dept (includes sewage project) manager Jack Hull to the Core Area sewage committee last week 
has some interesting points: 

1. Slide #10 Energy Centre (at Hartland Landfill): 
- gas production from digestion of sludge, fats, oils and grease 
- potential for addition of household organics 
- potential to heat 1,000+ homes per year 
- residual biosolids to waste to energy (WTE) facilities as fuel  

Question: What sort of environmental impact assessment is planned specifically for this Energy Centre, because includes a WTE, its not part of the sewage plant so cannot slide "under the radar" with only the inadequate environmental review under the Municipal Sewage Regulations.

2. Slide #11 Procurement: 
- shows that the Energy Centre will be a DBFO (Design-Build-Finance-Operate) project. Click here to see one definition of DBFO projects


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GREAT QUOTE FROM ANDREW WEAVER - AND ITS NOT ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE!

Thanks to ARESST member Rob for finding this quote below from UVic climate scientist Andrew Weaver that Weaver just made for the forthcoming AAAS conference in Vancouver. Interesting that earlier great quote from Gwyn Morgan and Weaver are both used $782 million estimate, but know we hear CRD's new estimate has risen to current $791 million.

"As an example, scientists have shown that a $782-million secondary-treatment plant upgrade is unnecessary for Victoria sewage due to the ocean’s strong flushing action. However, issues such as tourism and the desire to take advantage of provincial-federal cost sharing mean that the project is going ahead anyway. “It’s a fantastic microcosm of the role of science in public discourse,”  


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ARESST:  Saanich appears to be starting to introduce the forthcoming tsunami 
of CRD sewage plant debt into its financial planning:  

SAANICH & SEWAGE PLANT FUNDING -  PAYMENTS ARE NOW STARTING FOR PLANT

Sewage plant excerpt from Saanich 2012-2016 Financial Plan:
 
1. 2012 Financial Planning Issues  
A significant proportion of sewer costs are from CRD regional Sewage Treatment. CRD sewer charges increased by over 3.3% over last year due to operational cost increases and to fund new Liquid Waste Management Plan mandated regional sewer treatment. (page 17)
 
2012 BUDGET CHALLENGES 
• Prepare for impact of Sewage Treatment by CRD. (page 64) 

    
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VICTORIA'S PLAN TO TURN TAX DOLLARS INTO EFFLUENT
 
The planned sewage treatment plant is not exactly a solution for which there is no problem, but it is close
 
Craig McInnes
Vancouver Sun 
February 17, 2012

How would you spend a billion dollars? You would want to have some fun, of course, perhaps by buying an island in the Caribbean, a castle in Scotland and a cosy little ski chalet in St. Moritz in addition to that really, really big-screen TV you've been coveting.

But a chance to go shopping with the equivalent of 1,000 $1-million lottery prizes is an opportunity that doesn't come around very often, so you might want to think about your priorities and you probably wouldn't want to spend it all in one place. You would want to make sure you got something worthwhile for all that money.

As with the bait line in lottery ads - it could happen - the prospect of having a billion dollars to spend is for most of us more than a little fanciful. For politicians at the provincial and federal level, it's a number that slides into view more often. Even municipal politicians in large cities see it occasionally.

Victoria isn't that large of a metropolitan region, but politicians here are getting ready to spend a billion on a new sewage treatment plant. Okay, not exactly a billion, although that number came up in earlier estimates. The current estimate is only $782 mil-lion, but the project is still a long way from the shovel-in-the-ground stage, so as anyone who has ever renovated a basement knows, there is plenty of room for growth.

The news this month is that staff at the Capital Regional District now expect to get the federal and provincial governments to commit this spring to their share of the funding after being forced to delay the start because of the time the upper levels of government have taken to follow through on earlier promises.

As a homeowner in the region, I have more than just a journalistic interest in this story. The additional cost to my tax bill is estimated to be between $120 and $400 or higher when the new sewage treatment plant is built.

But thanks to the cost-sharing, you also have an interest because of the taxes you pay to the province and the federal government, so you should also be interested in how the decision was taken to spend your money.

This was not a case of having $1 billion lying around and trying to decide how best to put it to work. There was no consideration given to whether it could more usefully spent on making children safer by bringing schools up to modern earthquake standards, no consideration of whether it could be more usefully spent on shortening surgical waiting lists, on better transit in the Lower Mainland, on more affordable housing or putting some money back into provincial parks.

No, the provincial government decided that regardless of the cost, regardless of the dearth of evidence that Victoria's sewage represents a serious environmental or health problem, the Capital Regional District had to stop pouring relatively untreated sewage into the vast tidal stream of the Juan de Fuca Strait.

"Although there is no evidence of harm to the marine environment, our increasing population may soon require increased treatment," the CRD explains in the FAQ about the project.

The Victoria Times Colonist reported last month that more recent monitoring found degradation of the shrimp, mollusk and sea worm population within 400 metres of one of the two sewage outfalls. The degradation may be due to the one per cent of the screened sewage that falls to the sea floor.

So it's not fair to say that we are going to be spending $1 billion for no measurable environmental benefit. We are going to spend $1 billion with the hope of improving conditions for some bottom dwelling-sea creatures.

The question that should have been asked first, the question that should still be asked, is whether there are ways to spend this money that produce greater bang for the buck; greater benefits for the taxpayers who will be shelling it out, greater benefits for Victoria, for the province, for Canada or for the physical environment.

To paraphrase the Barenaked Ladies, if I had a billion dollars, a sewage treatment system that produced so few tangible benefits would be a long way down my list.



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EARLY BUDGE FORECAST SHOWS AVERAGE SAANICH TAXPAYER CAN EXPECT TO PAY $120 MORE THIS YEAR

Kyle Slavin
Saanich News
February 12, 2012

While most of last Tuesday's budget meeting centred on the Cedar Hill golf course's future, director of finance Paul Murray also outlined the Saanich's $218-million budget for 2012.

Among the highlights he mentioned were $1.08 million for sidewalk improvements, $1.6 million for new or improved bike lanes and $200,000 for a Douglas corridor planning study.

Saanich homeowners will see their property taxes increase 3.6 per cent (covering operational increases, infrastructure replacement, and infrastructure maintenance). For a Saanich home valued at $626,000 -- considered the “average” worth of a home in the community -- that equates to an additional $73, plus a $47 increase to utility rates.

"Our budget process is open to the public. There's a public piece at the start of each … budget meeting where anybody can give their feedback or comments," Murray said. "If folks have got specific points of view to make about parts of that budget, it's a matter of finding out what night the particular area they're thinking about is on, coming out, and making their points of view heard at that meeting."

Murray says that all Saanich departments, save for public safety, were required to cut one per cent from each of their budgets.

"(Part of the property tax increase) is to maintain the level of core services: police, fire, roads, public works, parks and recreation. It's just the rising costs of doing municipal business," he said. "The departments are being asked to do more with a little bit less, which is difficult. This is the fourth year of doing that, in order to keep tax increases in check."

The less-than-four-per-cent increase is in check with other municipalities in the region.

Victoria mayor Dean Fortin has asked his municipality’s staff to limit any tax increase to four per cent. Oak Bay's municipal treasurer says they have yet to determine what the increase will be for 2012, but it amounted to 3.74 per cent last year.

In 2011, Saanich residents paid an average of $133 (in property taxes and utilities) more than they did in 2010, while Victoria residents paid an average of $135 more.

Budget meetings are scheduled for Feb. 21 and 28, March 5, 6 and 20, and April 17. All meetings are held at Saanich municipal hall (770 Vernon Ave.), except the Feb. 21 meeting, which happens at Garth Homer Society (813 Darwin Ave.).

To read the complete 2012-2016 Draft Financial Plan, download it at saanich.ca/services/budget.html.



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ARESST: Below Warner said total of $143 million in unfunded major capital projects included Crystal Pool at $58 million, and fire hall at $16.5 million, with balance of $68 million in other unfunded projects. However, the City of Victoria share alone of the CRD's unnecessary sewage plant would be about $100 million and LRT could easily add another $100 million (not counting annual operating costs). Assuming that the $68 million is other, smaller projects, on top of all that, there appears to be another $200 million for just two new mega-projects not yet included in Warner's infrastructure list?

CITY OF VICTORIA: "INFRASTRUCTURE DEFICIT CAN BE MANAGED, FINANCE DIRECTOR SAYS  (doesn't include sewage plant)

Bill Cleverley
Times Colonist
February 15, 2012

Victoria's $500-million infrastructure deficit is daunting, but manageable, Victoria councillors were told Tuesday.

"We have a 20-year capital plan and there's not a lot of municipalities that can say that," Victoria's director of finance Brenda Warner said.

"The City of Victoria is investing in its infrastructure and we're doing an awful lot of work on this."

Warner's comments came during a capital budget orientation session.

The $500-million reserve fund deficit is the difference between what is in infrastructure reserves and what should be in the reserves based on an infrastructure replacement value of $1.7 billion.

The infrastructure deficit does not include $143 million in unfunded major capital projects, including replacement of the Crystal Pool, estimated at $58 million, and the $16.5 million replacement of the No. 1 Fire Hall.

Warner said the city is addressing capital funding through a multi-faceted approach, including:

- levying a 1.5 per cent tax increase every year (raising about $1.5 million) for capital reserves;

- transferring all new assessment revenue into infrastructure reserves;

- actively pursuing third-party funding (such as from the federal and provincial governments) for capital projects;

-  where possible, only adding new debt in years when other debt issues are retired to minimize the impact on property taxes. Victoria's debt servicing costs for 2010 are $6.8 million compared with $7.5 million for average comparable cities, Warner said.

Still, capital reserves are forecast to decline by 15 per cent this year to $55,974,715 from $66,387,970 as capital spending outstrips reserve contributions.

Mayor Dean Fortin said municipalities such as Victoria need more financial help from senior levels of government for capital projects.

"If we receive just a little bit of support - one-third support from our senior levels of government - then we've managed this and it's workable and we will not have to increase taxes in relation to that [beyond the 1.5 per cent increase earmarked for capital reserves]," Fortin said.

"Really, traditionally, senior levels of government have kicked in anywhere from one third to two thirds of major capital projects and that ultimately is what cities have been saying. We need a commitment from the federal and provincial governments that they are going to be there to help the municipalities with this challenge."

After the meeting, Coun. Geoff Young said he wondered how sustainable is the annual 1.5 per cent tax increase for capital.

"The biggest vulnerability is the 1.5 per cent tax increase, that's the issue," Young said.

"Whether we can afford to continue to increase taxes to that level in order to fund capital when we have ongoing responsibilities in the operating budget. I think we really have to think about some of the things we're doing and whether we can afford to continue at the level we are."

The council should be looking at overall staffing levels and "some of the responsibilities we've undertaken in the social areas," Young said.

Fortin said the 1.5 per cent increase is probably a realistic starting point.

"Unfortunately, as municipalities, we have to be prudent and make sure we have a plan that's going to meet the worst-case scenario," he said.

To address the situation any other way would likely involve service cuts, Fortin said.



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