It was a big vote on Saturday for residents in the Sage Mesa neighbourhood near Penticton and the result leaves the answer to the question of who will pay for a massive repair bill on the community’s water system up in the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen held a referendum Saturday, April 11, to get approval from residents to takeover the Sage Mesa Water System, a private utility that has fallen into a state of disrepair, as well as approve a $33 million loan to pay for needed repairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The preliminary results from the referendum had 317 ‘no’ votes and 136 ‘yes’ votes.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Keeping the utility private means it isn’t eligible for public funds from the province through things like grants, but the residents are seeking money from the province through the lawsuit<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some residents were concerned that taking out a loan would cause rates to go up dramatically because of the cost of repairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The quote to fix it is $33 million, and the proposed solution is that residents either pay $1,000 monthly for 30 years to fund the necessary repairs, or worse – for each of the 242 households to cough up $137,000. This exorbitant fee is beyond what most families in our community can afford, including mine. Many of us are at risk of losing our homes,” local resident Daniel Gore wrote in an online petition.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ministry of Water said that since the vote was a ‘no’ management of the water system will continue as it has been with the regional district running it as contracted by the comptroller of water rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the ministry said that rate increases are on the table since the system still needs repairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Comptroller of Water Rights is currently reviewing a rate application to increase the rates for the Sage Mesa Water System to support the costs of operations and upgrading of works required. The comptroller is prioritizing the review of the rate application and all information that has been received to date,\u201d the ministry said in an email to iNFOnew.ca. “A statutory decision will be made on the rate application.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ministry didn\u2019t say how much rates could go up, and it didn’t comment on the pending lawsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n