Adjala-Tos council defers decision on water, sewage connection charges

Adjala-Tosorontio council hasn’t decided what to charge Everett and Colgan residents for their water and sewage service.

Council deferred the decision July 9, after receiving a presentation from a consultant hired to calculate the charges residents will have to pay to fund new water and wastewater infrastructure that will have to be built for future growth.

The consultant recommended setting the connection charges at $10,500 per unit for water and $16,300 per unit for wastewater.

These costs would be included into the price of new homes that are going to be built in the two communities, but existing users who are using septic tanks or are serviced by the problematic New Horizons sewage treatment facility in Everett would have to pay to connect.

The charge for existing users to convert to the developer-built systems would be charged over 20 years, plus interest, but council has yet to decide if existing homes will be forced to do so.

Everett Coun. Dave Rose said it would be unfair to the residents of the New Horizons subdivision to pick up the tab for a second time.

“They’ve already paid once, and it’s going to be tough to ask them to pay again,” he said.

Council will hold a workshop at a later date to discuss the proposal further.