The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
A city councillor wants Flin Flonners to pay as they go for H20. Coun. Skip Martin announced last week that he favours the community-wide implementation of residential water meters. He said meters would ensure 'individual responsibility' since 'the more water you use, the more you pay.' Coun. Martin made the statement at a public forum held last week to discuss planned limits on taxpayer-funded sewage tank pump-outs in Channing and Wally Heights. When talk turned to the matter of fairness for all Flin Flonners, Coun. Martin spoke of his support for water meters. He said meters should be phased in so the city could afford them. No other councillors chimed in to lend their support to the idea. Most Flin Flon homeowners currently pay a flat rate for water, regardless of how much they consume. A small number of homeowners have chosen to install meters, hoping it would save them money. In 2007, a previous city council voted to mandate water meters for every Flin Flon home, but no action was ever taken toward that objective. In its 2008 budget, the city set aside $1.6 million to install water meters in all homes. When the year ended without meters, the city budgeted $2 million _ a 25 per cent hike _ to install them in 2009. In both years, the money was spent on other projects. No budgets or resolutions since that time have mentioned water meters. When the previous council voted for mandatory meters, they cited as factors pressure from the NDP government, projected cost savings and acquiring the ability to identify leaks in the water distribution system. As a candidate for office in 2010, soon-to-be-mayor George Fontaine said meters would reduce water consumption, noting that all water coming in and out of the city system must be treated. 'There's an expense and there's an energy cost to that sort of thing, so we're going to have to consider...whether it's worth, in dollars and cents, going to the expense of doing this,' Fontaine said at a candidates' forum broadcast on CFAR. Neither Creighton nor Denare Beach mandate water meters for residential properties.
