As people head to the voting stations this week – Nov. 16 for advanced polling and Nov. 19 actual voting day – they will be asked three questions depending on where they live.
There are pros and cons for a cemetery service with a maximum tax requisition limit of $70,000 for Christina Lake per year and borrowing about $1.5 million for the aquatic centre expansion and increasing the requisition from $500,000 to $650,000 per year in rural Grand Forks.
There are also positives and negatives for the City of Grand Forks borrowing upwards of $1.3 million (using a 25-year debt term) for emergency water supply in case of fire and borrowing a max of $4.2 million (also using a 25-year debt term) to repair road, water and sewer infrastructure but these are necessary.
Tax increases are never popular and you need only ask former Premier Gordon Campbell and the provincial Liberals about that – it seems the only thing in harmony was the majority voting against the Harmonized Sales Tax.
But while city residents pay enough taxes, tax increases to aid in funding emergency water supply and infrastructure repairs will be worth it in the long run.
According to a Kerr Wood Leidal (KWL) report dated May 2009, there was analysis that indicated that projected fire flows on the west side of the city weren’t adequate when fed only from the current reservoir located on the city’s east side.
The report goes on to say that the effect is caused by elevated friction losses in the long sections of pipe that go across the city in the event of a major fire.
Preparing for fire is worth the investment as being unprepared could have tragic consequences and the city says that it would meet insurance requirements and ensure that the city would be able fight a fire on the city’s west side during peak water consumption periods.
Much of the city’s infrastructure is close to 100 years old and is in need of an upgrade in one way or another.
In previous studies done by KWL, it was determined that while the city complied with municipal sewage regulation in terms of inflow and infiltration (ground and storm water entering sewage pipes), there were concerns that inflow and infiltration could increase as time progresses if proper maintenance and repairs were not done. Of course, pipes are only one of the numerous aging infrastructure in the city.
Like an automobile, if the proper maintenance isn’t done, it will fail.
– Grand Forks Gazette