The City of Flin Flon has abandoned plans to restrict ratepayer-funded sewage pumpouts in Channing, ending for now a debate that pitted efficiency concerns against questions of equality.
The previous city council, led by now-former mayor George Fontaine, last year proposed an annual limit of 37 funded pumpouts per home, but the matter never came to a final vote.
“At this point in time that issue isn’t on my radar screen and doesn’t appear to be a problem,” Mayor Cal Huntley, who replaced Fontaine last fall, said this week. “Until it becomes a concern, the status quo will be maintained for the present. Right now it is as simple as that.”
Huntley’s announcement was welcome news for Allen Quick, a Channing resident who opposed pumpout restrictions.
“I think it’s a fair resolution because most of us in Channing are pretty diligent in the amount of water we use,” said Quick.
Opposition
Quick said there was strong opposition in Channing to the former council’s proposal.
“Basically what they [were] telling us is that we don’t have the same rights as everybody [else] in Flin Flon who have access to 24/7 [water and sewer service],” he said. “To limit us is to basically say that we’re second-class.”
Dave Law, a long-time Channing resident, also appreciates Huntley’s statement.
Law said the subdivision’s residents do not abuse the current pumpout system because they only have so much water delivered in the first place.
“We’ve always conserved water,” said Law, a strong believer that Channing should not be considered separate from the rest of Flin Flon.
Law said the city may have realized it was not going to save money by limiting pumpouts.
Other Channing residents have argued that since their water and sewer bills are already higher than those of other Flin Flonners, ending unrestricted pumpouts would be unfair.
In 2012, the former council went public with possible plans to cap the number of sewage tank pumpouts the city would fund for homes in Channing and Wally Heights.
Due to distance, neither subdivision is hooked up to the city’s water and sewer grid.
In mid-2014, council crystallized its proposal: 37 pumpouts per home, per year. Many Channing and Wally Heights residents balked, and council tabled the matter without ever voting on it.
At the last meeting on the proposal, held in June 2014, Coun. Bill Hanson said the “goal is not to penalize anybody or ostracize anybody” but “to make this system more efficient.”
But Law told the meeting that 37 pumpouts would be insufficient for some households and urged additional pumpouts be provided
to those who demonstrate a need.
Hanson called that idea “very reasonable,” but Coun. Skip Martin, who is no longer on council, worried it would boost pumpouts rather than make the system more efficient.
Martin said 37 pumpouts a year equates to more than 70,000 gallons of sewage for a home with a large tank.
Based on a survey of residents, Martin said, no one was having more than 60,000 gallons pumped in a year.
At one point Law asked how much money council expected to save by capping pumpouts, to which Chief Administrative Officer Mark Kolt said no firm figure was known.
For the past 11 years, as a matter of fairness, the city has funded sewage pumpouts for Channing and Wally Heights.
There have never been restrictions on the number of pumpouts permitted. Even if council’s cap had passed, residents would have been allowed to pay for additional pumpouts themselves.
The city spent $66,605 on pumpouts in 2012, an 18 per cent jump over 2011.
