News. THE BELLEVILLE
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SEPTEMBER 7, 2017
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Belleville – Belleville will take any opportunity it can to expand Veridian Energy’s service area to keep residents and businesses away from paying much higher Hydro One rates. That was the theme of an early-morning discussion Wednesday, Aug. 30 as Belleville councillors met at the River Inn for the first of two days of strategic planning meetings. The meetings are allowing elected leaders to see presentations from senior staff and discuss new projects and ideas to move forward with. But when Chief Administrative Officer Rick Kester provided opening remarks and spoke about Belleville’s need to keep up its vision as a “economically vibrant” community, the conversation shifted to the complexities involved in keeping hydro prices low. Veridian Energy is partially owned by the municipality and serves most businesses and residents in the municipality’s urban boundary. That’s a great selling point for the city’s economic development office as it tries to recruit new business, during an era where Hydro One pricing – particularly in rural areas – is widely believed to be hampering the economy. “When we meet and greet potential customers, there’s nothing more proud that saying we own our own utility company,” said Mayor Taso Christopher. Staff and council agreed that when a new business is near the border of Veridian’s service area, the city should explore adding infrastructure to allow Veridan to expandits coverage area. Council was told similar Mayor Taso Christopher and CAO Rick Kester listen to a arrangements were made to get Shorelines presentation by finance director Brian Cousins during a Casino Belleville onto Veridian’s grid, even strategic planning session Aug. 30.Stephen Petrick/Metroland through the casino lands, along Bell Boule-
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vard, are normally Hydro One territory. Yet, these discussions get complicated, factoring in that Hydro One, as a publicly traded company, has its own mandate to grow its business and search for customers. “It’s making for an interesting world in electrical distribution, but it doesn’t help us,” Kester said. “There’s no easy answer.” He said that any private company should look at funding programs that ease hydro rates, as there are a number of different programs available through different corporations. ••• In other news from the strategic planning session, finance director Brian Cousins delivered a presentation, which spoke to issues such as credit rating and debt. He said the city continues to maintain a AA- credit rating, as it has for the last six years, roughly. This puts the city in a good position to borrow money to complete big projects. Credit ratings for municipalities are determined following neutral, third-party assessments of the municipality’s financial health. Belleville’s rating is supported by the fact that it has cash and investments of 92 million, at the end of 2016. But, the city’s long-term debt continues to climb.By the end of 2017, it’s projected to be at $122,489,000, Cousins’ presentation showed. Of that $100,853,000 will be taxsupported. Another $21,636,000 will come from self-liquidating assets. At the end of 2016, the total long-term debt was $102,300,000 with the tax-supported portion at $78,200,000 and liquidating portion $24,100,000. Belleville has tapped into long-term debt to complete numerous Build Belleville infrastructure projects in recent years and other projects, such as the renovation of the Yardmen Arena.
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