Sainte-Rose-du-Nord suspends its wastewater treatment plant project

Sainte-Rose-du-Nord is suspending its project to build a wastewater treatment plant on which it has been working for more than a decade. The Municipality evokes the “catastrophic repercussions” that it would have on its financial health and that of the citizens affected by the development of this infrastructure.

The project, estimated at more than $21 million, must be 95% financed by various government subsidies, notably from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, but the remaining share, around $1.4 million, must be assumed by the small municipality of 450 inhabitants.

The plant must serve just over 70 buildings, including several residences located in the heart of the village. Currently, these buildings discharge their wastewater into the Saguenay River, while the entire sector intended for the resort is equipped with a treatment system, such as septic tanks.

We don’t want to let Sainte-Rose-du-Nord down, but in its current form, the project is unacceptablelaunched Mayor Claude Riverin at a municipal council meeting on Monday evening, in front of around thirty citizens.

The elected officials unanimously adopted a resolution to interrupt the current proceedings. Other possible solutions will be analyzed.

The mayor plans in particular to directly question the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, and the Minister of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks, Benoit Charette, in this matter.

There is only one way to carry out the project and that is to have it 100% subsidized. […] We are a responsible council. We are aware that we open the door to receiving fines. By choosing to embark on a wastewater treatment project that our citizens are unable to pay for for 30 years, we are not readyexplained Mayor Riverin to the citizens.

Explosion of the tax bill

Over the years, several steps have been taken by the Sainte-Rose-du-Nord municipal council to find funding for the project aimed at serving the urban perimeter.

Ultimately, Mayor Claude Riverin and the elected officials of the municipal council judge that the bill to be assumed by the Municipality is too high.

According to the calculations made by the members of the council, by distributing the costs 74% by the residents who would be connected to the network and 26% by all the taxpayers of Sainte-Rose-du-Nord, the tax bill would increase significantly. . This is without counting the annual operating costs which are estimated at $100,000, according to Mr. Riverin.

For an average house, the tax bill would be between $4,500 and $5,000 annually. We are talking about an increase which varies between 50% and 110%underlined the mayor.

We must understand that the citizens of the village heart of Sainte-Rose-du-Nord are many retirees, many elderly people or young families, who are building their lives, some work in NPOit is the part of the village with the lowest income.

We are already a municipality whose tax rate is the highest in the MRC du Fjord-du-Saguenay, if I increase them between 50 and 110%, it seems to me that it is easy to understand that it is unthinkablea poursuivi M. Riverin.

I am pro-environment and I have always said that we would succeed in doing so, but not at the cost of bankrupting my citizens.

Even though the project was interrupted, the Municipality has already sunk more than $513,000 into the adventure since it resorted to an expropriation procedure to acquire the land which will be used to accommodate the future factory. This amount will be billed to citizens on their 2025 tax bill.

The mayor also wanted to point out that his municipality manages an annual budget of 1.5 million dollars and that a wastewater treatment plant is essential for the development of the tourist offer in the heart of the village, which has been seeking for a long time ways to increase your income.

We need to take care of the village heart, and we need to restore access to the Saguenay, but without wastewater treatment, we will not restore access. We want to develop tourist accommodation, affordable accommodation for families, but that will take a factory and I cannot put the municipality in debt for the next 30 yearsreported Claude Riverin.