I am in receipt of a very nice letter from the District of Sicamous advising me that the deadline for hookup to the sanitary sewer system is November 30/15.
That is, without a doubt, a great financial burden for many, if not most, of our senior citizens. These people are, for the most part, appreciated for the achievements accomplished often by them with great sacrifice and effort; but, because they are now old now and defenceless, they can be unfairly taken advantage of by the taxation system and the local governments.
These people worked hard and lived frugal to accumulate enough money to buy a very – and I mean very – modest home, and now live in fear they will lose that home or be forced to sell because the taxes, water charges and sewer charges are no longer within their means.
It is therefore urgently requested that the mayor and council review the deadline for the sanitary sewer connection and extend said deadline as suggested by me in an earlier missive.
Furthermore, being in a financial bind should not be the only criteria for not wanting a sewer connection.
Also, the vile odour emanating from the sewer plant on hot days proves the system to be in a serious overload condition, and to now add an additional burden on the system is a total no-brainer.
From where I stand, I can only see that the district will convince the taxpayers of the need to expand the system at great cost of course, payable by the taxpayers. This in spite of the fact that our individual septic systems are working very well without emitting any noxious odours and are paid for. Now the district, in its infinite wisdom, wants us to destroy our septic systems. As things stand, the water quality presently is worse than it was a year ago. The sanitary sewer system is in a serious overload condition. And the district wants to charge an additional 80 per cent more of our already extremely high water bill for the sewer.
It is my duty to also advise the homeowners on septic systems that for these systems to work properly, some maintenance is required. For instance, a “must maintenance” chore is to have the septic pumped out once every three to five years.
Last but not least, I and any and all taxpayers I spoke to request that the mayor and councillors roll back your pay hike to what the stipend was at the time of the election.
Nick J. Verburg