Guelph-Eramosa Township will provide a one-time payment of almost $800,000 to the City of Guelph as part of a new wastewater treatment agreement between the two parties.
Both sides have approved a new three-year deal that will also include annual township treatment bills that in the past have totalled upwards of $350,000.
“This is a good deal for everybody,” Guelph-Eramosa Mayor Chris White told the Advertiser. “We certainly aren’t in a position to build our own plant.”
For several years municipal officials on both sides failed to re-negotiate a decades-old agreement regarding Rockwood sewage, which is treated at the city’s facility at 530 Wellington Street West.
One of the major road blocks to a new agreement was differing opinions on what the township should pay for capital upgrades to the Guelph system.
City officials contended the township should be paying more, while the township argued capital costs outside of those directly related to Rockwood effluent were not part of the original agreement.
“They were trying, in effect, to make us one system,” White said, explaining the city wanted to charge the township for a portion of all capital projects throughout the city’s system.
“We absolutely objected.”
In fact, several years ago the township starting to withhold its annual payments in protest of escalating costs. For example, the township received a bill of $304,903 for 2006 services, while the 2005 bill was just $189,347. That represented an increase of 61%, while the treatment volume had increased less than 12% – from 329,000 to 367,000 cubic metres.
In 2009, the township agreed to pay the bills for 2006 and 2007 after negotiating to have the bill lowered by about $57,000 for those two years.
“That was all taken care of,” finance director Linda Cheyne said of the township withholding payments.
Since 2009 the township has paid its annual bills on time, she explained, adding the invoices for 2010 and 2011 were about $355,000 and $368,000 respectively.
The one-time charge of $773,200 included in the new agreement is “equal to the development charges related to purchasing additional capacity” at the Guelph facility.
“That’s the cost to increase capacity at their plant,” Cheyne said.
Under the new deal, the city will accept from the township a maximum of 1,710 cubic metres of sewage daily. That represents an increase of 43% over the original maximum of 1,200 cubic metres that was included in the original 1977 agreement, although the city agreed twice since then to increase that total (to 1,323 cubic metres).
“The bottom line is, Rockwood will pay for its own use and Guelph will pay for its own as well,” said White.
Kiran Suresh, Guelph’s general manager of wastewater services, was also pleased with the new agreement.
“Absolutely – it is a milestone achieved that is good for both parties,” said Suresh.
She reiterated the one-time cost charged to the township will help cover the additional treatment and increased capacity required to accommodate the township’s request to increase its maximum daily flow to 1,710 cubic metres.
Suresh added the township will pay its bills monthly and is only responsible for capital costs directly related to the Rockwood effluent.
The township is hosting an information session on Aug. 30 from 4 to 7pm at the township office to discuss sewage treatment options for the remainder of the developable lands within Rockwood.
