Water and sewer rates are expected to rise by four per cent in the Village of Eganville, however that increase could have been much worse, says Bonnechere Valley Mayor Jennifer Murphy.
“We’re in better shape than a lot of other municipalities across Ontario,” she said. “Our staff has worked very hard to keep our rates as reasonable as humanly possible.”
Accessing reserves helped the municipality keep the increase to four per cent, she noted.
“It’s a real challenge when we’re serving only about 500-700 users on very expensive water and wastewater systems,” she said. “Whitewater Region experienced an enormous increase and it was Mayor Neil Nicholson that brought it to my and Warden Peter Emon’s attention to bring to the ROMA board to find out if other municipalities were dealing with the same thing.”
It’s definitely something that will be examined at ROMA and AMO, she noted.
The water and wastewater rates will be finalized at the next meeting of council Jan. 16.
Bonnechere Valley will begin its budget process in February.
(Written by: Sherry Haaima)
