A group of North Shore residents is banding together to fight what they say is an unfair tax hike due to a beleaguered public infrastructure project.
The North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant is estimated to be $3 billion over budget.
Metro Vancouver homeowners will pay for it, notably in North Vancouver and West Vancouver, where the extra bill has been estimated at $590 a year.
But now Metro Vancouver has told Global News that some homeowners will likely pay more than that. The exact amount will become clear in 2025.
Also, that amount will be on utility bills not on property tax bills, leaving no room for deferment.
The extra burden and lack of transparency have brought together seven community associations.
North Shore Neighbourhoods Alliance is adding to the chorus of calls for an independent audit of the troubled treatment plant.
“These cost overruns have happened. They’re only going to get bigger. Let’s get someone on it and find out what went wrong,” alliance member Daniel Anderson said.
“The issue is what questions are being posed and who is posing them, especially when someone is on payroll. We have already seen that that’s a recipe for disaster,” he added.
“We have a bunch of politicians from a bunch of municipalities that are on payroll on the Metro board and what have we gotten? Not a lot of oversight and cost overruns.”
Metro Vancouver’s newly elected chair, Mike Hurley, recently rejected the idea of an independent audit.
“I’m not proposing an outside audit at this time I’m proposing a review by an independent individual,” Hurley said.