Following a heated debate Wednesday about water meter funding, Comox council approved by a 4-3 vote staff reports for the Town’s financial plan and tax rates.The budget will be forwarded to council at their regular meeting next week for first, second and third reading, which sees a general tax increase of 2.8 per cent on all classes of property except business, which will increase by 1.8 per cent.”I don’t have a real big problem with the 2.8 per cent based on the fact that we’re going to be doubling our road paving … but I’m still struggling on the $25,000 a year for the water meter project,” said Coun. Ken Grant.In March, council passed a draft recommendation allowing $25,000 per year for the next four years for the voluntary water meter program in the financial plan, to be funded through gas tax/community works fund.”There doesn’t seem to be any plan there at all,” Grant noted. “I don’t think it’s been thought through one iota. It’s just a matter of putting some money aside and trying to make a project look good in my opinion, that just isn’t going anywhere.”Grant then added he could not vote in favour of the budget, and then proposed a motion to eliminate the proposed water meter funding.”There is no plan; it’s no longer water conservation or water measurement or fairness,” added Coun. Tom Grant, who seconded the motion. “There’s no business plan, there’s no thought behind this, it’s an ideology, and I think it should be stopped.”If it was your own money, instead of treating this gas tax money as Monopoly money, you wouldn’t do it,” he added.Coun. Barbara Price explained she understands most people in the town don’t want water meters for a variety of reasons, but said residents whom she spoke to — even those opposed to meters — have no objections to giving residents a choice to request one.”This is going to go on, and on and on, and there’s no plan in the future to come to an end to this,” replied Ken Grant. Mayor Paul Ives noted water meters are part of the Town’s infrastructure and will remain a part of it for years to come.”Really, in terms of the business case, we’re not reinventing the wheel. Other communities across this province and across the country have done this. We’ve done what we can … and this motion came forward to continue to give people a choice,” he said.”It has no impact on the budget in terms of dollars and cents,” Ives noted. “It’s gas tax money that we’ve decided to allocate … I think it’s a wise use personally of a very small part of gas tax money.”Tom Grant rebutted, and noted the impact on the budget would be felt by taxpayers.”I cannot believe for a moment that you can make a statement like that when over 50 people have signed up. We’ve spend over a million dollars putting in water meters so that 50 people can pay the metered water rate. That is an absolute joke,” he said. “That’s so far from a business case, that’s so far from common sense, it’s so far from reality for us to be spending that kind of money.”He added taxpayers would feel an impact when the town will begin future projects with funds from general revenue, rather than gas tax money.”Pretending it’s monopoly money is a silly thing to do. It’s real money that we can use to improve our town,” he stated.”I don’t believe anyone on this council that I’ve ever sat on has ever considered any of it to be Monopoly money. I don’t think that’s a fair comment,” Ives replied.”The investment that we’ve made in this will prove over time, I’m convinced, as many communities have been, be a wise investment, and we’ll have to agree to disagree as to that. We know that water infrastructure, along with sewer is going to become a big issue for the region. We know that water rates are going to go up, and if people have the choice to make a wise decision on conservation and to pay less, I’m all for that,” he added.The motion was defeated as Ken Grant, Tom Grant and Coun. Maureen Swift — voted in favour. The motion for the report was passed with Couns. Price, Patti Fletcher,  Price and Hugh MacKinnon and Ives voted in favour.photos@comoxvalleyrecord.com

Comox Valley Record