SOOKE
NEWS MIRROR
2010 WINNER
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
FALL BEHIND Editorial
Sooke Harbour Players present a musical with child stars.
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Entertainment
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Sports/stats
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It’s time to change your clocks back one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 4.
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Wednesday, OCTOBER 31, 2012
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Langford group opens waste transfer station Sharron Ho Sooke News Mirror
Sharron Ho photo
It’s Halloween! The kids will be out and about tonight, so please slow down if you are driving. The Haunted House at the Sooke Community Hall will be full of spooks and goblins. It runs from 4 to 8 p.m.
With the closure of Sooke Disposal’s transfer station last month, residents have had few options to dump their unwanted waste. But as of Nov. 1, there will be a new transfer station in town, serviced by the Langford-based company, Alpine Group. The new drop-off site, A&P Disposal & Recycling, will be located on 6220 Marilyn Rd, just off Sooke River Road. The area is zoned as M3 Heavy Industrial, which is mandatory for a garbage dump. “There’s no issues with the zoning whatsoever, that’s why we got our business license right away,” said co-owner, Alfred Hass. “The bins are just going to be dropped off and taken
away in a few days, so we’re hoping there won’t be any smells because things are going to go in and come out really quick.” Items that can be dropped off include household garbage, wood and garden waste, household appliances, furniture, plastics, styrofoam and cardboard. Metals can be dropped off for free, but construction type items like drywall, dirt and cement bricks will not be accepted. There are also future plans to add a recycling service. “We’re not going to do recycling yet, but we’ll look at getting into that as we get set up more down the road,” Hass said. According to Hass, the transfer station is about .4 of an acre. There will be two 40-yard bins that will be
covered from rain. “Space-wise we’re just going to make it work and if we need to expand it a little bit we have…more room to do that,” he said. Hass is partnering with local businessman Patrick Weston, who has been in business in the area since 1989. Weston owns scrap metal recycling centre, Westshore Auto Recycling. “I just noticed Sooke needed something like this and I had the spare land,” Weston said. The transfer station will be open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. There will be a minimum charge of $4, which will increase depending on weight. news@sookenewsmirror. com
Sewer system unaffordable without tax increase Pirjo Raits Sooke News Mirror
“The chickens have come home to roost,” and increases for sewer parcel taxes will be hitting Sooke property owners’ pocketbooks in 2013. The increase would see the sewer parcel tax rise to $552 from the current $515. Originally when the sewer system was first planned and went to referendum, the parcel tax was set at $495. It was intended to be
self sufficient but that has not proven to be the case. The cash shortfall has been coming out of the General Fund. The amount which was borrowed from the General Fund is $588,459.65 at the end of 2011. Repayment to the General Fund has to be repaid at $118,000 per year for five years, resulting in a 7.1 per cent increase to the sewer parcel tax. Acting CAO David Gawley, said at council on Oct. 22, that he could not explain the rising costs. He said the
increase was suggested for a five-year term, and after five years the parcel tax would be closer to $515. He also stated that the original bylaw was approved for the Sewer Specified Area, not the entire population of Sooke. He said for the balance of 2012 money will come from the DCC fund. “We need to look at a new financial structure,” said Gawley. Councillor Maja Tait said the revenue which had been
projected was not there but felt the increase was too much. “We need to explore other options... it’s too much for one year. It surprises me,” she said. Coun. Bev Berger said that the district entered into a five-year agreement last year that they can’t afford and are “operating a system we can’t afford.” Gawley said the numbers are there as was the obligation to pay the borrowed money back into the Gen-
eral Fund. Mayor Wendal Milne said the payback could be spread out over a longer period of time thereby reducing the increase to the sewer parcel tax. “The finance committee looked at this very carefully,” said Coun. Rick Kasper, chair of the Finance and Administration Committee. “The chickens have come home to roost. I don’t know what might happen, we are robbing Peter to pay Paul to run the sewer
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system. There was a huge increase in operating costs last year... and we’re bearing the brunt. Be honest with the taxpayer, this is the most viable thing to do.” Mayor Milne said, “$118,000 is good news in some ways, it is internal funds. It’s not a lot of good news but a little bit.” Council passed the recommendation made by the F&A Committee to increase the Sewer Parcel tax rate to repay the Interfund loan. Coun. Tait was opposed.