Re: “Province has role in sewage debate,” editorial, May 17.
The Capital Regional District’s projected sewage-treatment plant is already over budget because the original project omitted the treatment of solid sludge. Also, the project has not started, and the delay costs $1 million a month.
The financial support of provincial and the federal governments is fixed. Any cost overruns have to be funded by taxpayers in the Greater Victoria area. Citizens and governments should look at the experience of Jefferson County, Alabama, which initiated a massive overhaul of the county-owned sewer system in the early 2000s. Problems with payment on the sewer-bond agreement led to the county filing for bankruptcy in 2011, with debts of $3 billion. This remains the second most expensive municipal bankruptcy in American history, surpassed only by Detroit’s bankruptcy filed in 2013.
Robert Shepherd
Saanich
