Now is not the time to give up on the issue of an independent Audit for the WUC. Although the Mayor has stated he's willing to make the request, there's a lot of road to be travelled between that statement and Council actually acting next Monday night.The only way to ensure that Council acts it to maintain the pressure. Continue calling and emailing the Mayor and your Councillors.
We may be in the home stretch, but by no means is this race over yet.
While you're at it - ask them why the huge increase in Fixed Rate charges instead of increasing the 26.6 cents per cubic metre we pay for water usage.
I wonder how much it has to do with those long term deals we've signed with Tecumseh and LaSalle for the provision of water? Although I'm sure the deals have reasonable cost escalators built in, I don't think they would allow for huge increases. To encourage conservation and reduce usage, Windsor's rate should be somewhere between $0.90 to $1.10 per cubic metre with little or no fixed charge at all. I'm looking forward to the release of the C.N. Watson rate study.
I'm continuing to study the pros and cons of a User Pay system. Hopefully I'll have some time this weekend to pull all the research I have together and present it in an easy to understand format. I've also received several emails with questions that I will attempt to answer as part of my series on User Pay versus Fixed Charge systems.
One thing to note - I have yet to find a municipality in Canada, let alone Ontario, that has a rate that is even close to Windsor's. The closest so far is Durham region at $0.56 cents per cubic metre. More than twice Windsor's rate.
We may have access to an abundant supply of water, but don't forget that, on average, it costs twice as much to treat water as it does to provide it.
PS - take a minute and sign the petition to create an independent Windsor Auditor General. We shouldn't have to go cap in hand to the Province asking for assistance. The Municipal Act allows municipalities to create this position. If Windsor truly wants to be a leader in the Province, this would be a good place to start.
