Re: Notice of Intention to Pass a By-Law to Undertake the Construction of Sanitary Sewer and Private Drain Connections on Baseline Road from 7th Concession Road to 8th Concession Road under the NEW Local Improvement Policy

I am a resident on Baseline Road and have concerns with the per meter charge and private connection fee. This cost is considerably more than before November 2019, and quite an extreme increase.

Our homes were amalgamated in 2003 and for 17 years we have paid more taxes than when we were part of Tecumseh and no additional services in return. We do not have sidewalks, streetlights, a library, a community center or even a park to utilize close to our neighbourhood. Why wasn’t our “extra tax money” from new city taxpayers set aside for local improvements to our infrastructure, specifically sanitary sewers to replace our septics? How did the City not earmark our extra tax income for our street improvements when, in all seriousness, they knew, we knew, EVERYONE knew a detention centre, airport improvements, and future hospital would happen. Not to mention other development, residential and commercial around our little street.

The current construction cost of the sewer system will add $1K-$2K per year to our already very high property taxes, even if we choose the City provided financial assistance option. This is unacceptable, especially in this economic reality we are facing because of Covid-19.

Additional concerns regarding the above.

• Baseline Road lots are in most cases 2 or 3 times wider and deeper than average lots in a City suburb. Why should we bear the extra meter costs of City infrastructure because we have larger lots? The City wanted amalgamation, and so they should have planned for the additional tax revenue our rural homes generated over the last 17 years and applied some of those funds to offset this cost.

• There is mention of cost sharing for sidewalks, street lighting, curbs, etc., again, with homeowners on the hook for part of this expense. This again goes back to the 17 years of taxes paid, and nothing to show for it.

• Some newer homes were forced to be built far from the road (approx 25 meters) and now these homes will be further penalized because the per meter private line to the home will be more than average homes who are closer to the road

• There are estimates for a property that is approx 30 x 60 meters that the decommissioning and private connection to the home could cost up to