{"id":6670,"date":"2024-02-13T18:37:29","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T22:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=6670"},"modified":"2024-02-14T10:20:26","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T14:20:26","slug":"rate-hikes-loom-as-water-utility-expenses-balloon-queens-mayor-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/02\/13\/rate-hikes-loom-as-water-utility-expenses-balloon-queens-mayor-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Rate hikes loom as Queens water utility expenses balloon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A

Region of Queens Municipality administration building. (Rick Conrad photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Rick Conrad<\/strong><\/p>\n

Residents in Liverpool and parts of Brooklyn should brace for water rate hikes but not right away, Mayor Darlene Norman said Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cPlease be prepared for a water utility rate study and a very probable increase in water utility rates,\u201d Norman said in an interview.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regional council got a better picture on Tuesday of the budget impact of the boil water advisory for Queens water utility customers from Aug. 9 to Oct. 5 last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The municipality had already budgeted last spring for a loss of $173,700 for the water utility. The treatment station was struck by lightning on Aug. 9. Residents on the municipal water supply were under a boil water order for eight weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joanne Veinotte, director of corporate services for the Region of Queens, gave councillors a third-quarter financial review on Tuesday. As of Dec. 31, the water utility has run an extra $252,655 over budget, or $426,355 so far.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Norman said Queens water customers pay some of the lowest rates in the province. The utility must pay for itself and not run a deficit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before any rate increase, however, the utility has to prepare a rate study. The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board would have to approve any fee hike.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Norman said she has no timeline for when that review may be done. She said council does not have the money in its current budget for the rate study.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe system is old, early 1900s. So it constantly needs repair and upgrading.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt may well be the next council coming in in October that will be looking at the results of that study.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Veinotte told councillors Tuesday that the region will be reimbursed for $82,000 from its insurance provider for the damage caused by the August lightning strike.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day that claim is now finalized but we\u2019re still dealing with some of the fallout from the lightning strike,\u201d Veinotte told councillors.<\/span><\/p>\n

In other positive financial news for the region, revenue from the 2.5 per cent deed transfer tax was again over budget for the third quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Veinotte said the region brought in about $220,000 more than expected from the tax in the quarter and the region is expected to exceed its projection for the deed transfer tax by about 58 per cent for the whole fiscal year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The region also got a higher-than-expected share of the Nova Scotia Power tax payout from the province of about $132,000.<\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/waterratesfeb1324.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rick Conrad Residents in Liverpool and parts of Brooklyn should brace for water rate hikes but not right away, Mayor Darlene Norman said Tuesday. \u00a0\u201cPlease be prepared for a water utility rate study and a very probable increase in water utility rates,\u201d Norman said in an interview. Regional council got a better picture on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[1371,79,617,1736,1735,1246,49,24,1737,1734],"class_list":["post-6670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-boil-water-advisory","tag-darlene-norman","tag-deed-transfer-tax","tag-financial-update","tag-joanne-veinotte","tag-municipal-budget","tag-queens-county","tag-region-of-queens","tag-third-quarter","tag-water-utility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6670"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6681,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6670\/revisions\/6681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}