• Protecting Water and Farmland in Simcoe County

A $4.2 Million Water Bill?

By
In AWARE News Network
Jul 9th, 2020
2 Comments
1370 Views

Oro-Medonte’s designated water zones for Horseshoe Valley

from John Thornton – Coordinator Horseshoe Valley Zone 1 Task Force

Since the 1970’s families in Horseshoe Valley have been served by a municipal water system, much the same as thousands of families in towns and cities across Ontario.

We pay our water bills to the municipality, we get water. Simple.

Only now the Township of Oro-Medonte is claiming, despite hundreds of pages of public record to the contrary, that the system isn’t public – it’s private. The Township is offering no proof of this claim.

And they want 454 families to come up with $$4,449,200 to connect to the water system.

The one they’re already connected to. The one they’ve been using for five decades. The one that the Municipality already owns.

We have the 268 pages of public record to prove the system is public, much the same as hundreds of similar water systems across Ontario.

The Township is now drafting a new bylaw to drop a massive water bill on these families, with next to zero public consultation, in the middle of summer, and in the middle of a pandemic.

Clearly the Township is hoping people are too distracted to notice or care. But people should. The process is the opposite of transparent, and the opposite of good-faith, honest and fair representation.

At best this is plainly an abuse of political power. At worst, it is profound disregard on the part of the people who are paid to represent the best interests if the hundreds of families who face a crippling new bill – for something they already own!

2 Responses to “A $4.2 Million Water Bill?”

  1. Lois Brisbois says:

    This is a serious situation for owners like myself, living in a condo in Zone 1 in Horseshoe Valley. Water and Wastewater billings are already very high, at. $534 /quarterand this extra proposed billing is just adding insult to injury. I’m hoping that Council will see that indeed we are already on the Municipal system.

  2. Larry Herr says:

    Oro-Medonte Township has chosen to listen to a high priced Toronto lawyer, and ignore the proof of municipal ownership that has been uncovered by the Horseshoe Valley Focus Group/Task Force, and published in its 268-page Report of June 1, 2020. As a result of the Township’s plan, 454 households in Horseshoe Valley could face a massive bill of up to $9,800 EACH for the privilege of connecting to the same municipal water system they have been connected to for many years! As Marcellus states in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” It’s time for Oro-Medonte to abandon its very tempting money grab, and do the right thing!

Leave a Reply to Larry Herr Cancel reply

Commenters must post under real names. AWARE Simcoe reserves the right to edit or not publish comments. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *