Winnipeg, MB - The City of Winnipeg will enter into a service sharing agreement with the Rural Municipality of Rosser that will allow wastewater from the Rural Municipality to be treated at the City’s North End sewage treatment plant.
The agreement, reached in principle between the parties last week and approved by Rosser’s Municipal Council on Monday, December 2, 2013 will benefit residents of both communities, and will provide significant assistance in the development of CentrePort, Manitoba’s multi-modal inland port. Winnipeg residents will benefit through increased sewer revenues and revenue sharing, and Rosser residents will have a viable solution for a sustainable wastewater plan.
“We believe this service-sharing agreement will be a real boost to CentrePort,” said Mayor Sam Katz. “Reaching this milestone with the R.M. of Rosser will help attract large-scale distribution centres, and new business interest from within the province and beyond.”
Rosser municipality is equally pleased with the pending wastewater agreement. “The R.M. of Rosser is excited at the prospect of introducing state of the art wastewater services to our CentrePort area through this partnership with the City of Winnipeg,” said Reeve Frances Smee, Rural Municipality of Rosser. “Landowners and developers in the first area to be serviced have been anxiously awaiting this moment and it has arrived.”
“On behalf of CentrePort’s board of directors, I’d like to thank the mayor and Winnipeg council as well as the reeve and council of Rosser for their shared commitment to providing wastewater servicing for companies locating in CentrePort,” said Diane Gray, president and CEO of CentrePort Canada Inc. “With this latest agreement and the recent opening of the new expressway, CentrePort Canada Way, we are experiencing real momentum at CentrePort, which we believe will translate into new private sector investment, jobs and economic opportunity for Winnipeg and the capital region.”
"This innovative partnership agreement will provide new revenue to invest in the City’s sewer infrastructure and direct revenue sharing into our Regional Roads Capital budget, says Deepak Joshi, Acting Chief Administrative Officer, City of Winnipeg.
The R.M. of Rosser is a strong supporter of the CentrePort concept and has been working hard with partners like Winnipeg to help achieve the CentrePort vision. The introduction of the first wastewater lines into the area is further confirmation of the demand for growth in the area. In complementary activities, Rosser is also currently updating its land use planning by-laws to guide the new growth and is continuing discussions regarding the provision of the full range of services that CentrePort clients are expected to demand throughout the area.
Regional cooperation on service sharing for projects such as CentrePort is one of the goals of the Partnership of the Manitoba Capital Region (PMCR), to which both Rosser and Winnipeg belong.
Under the agreement, the Rural Municipality will owe the following fees to the City of Winnipeg for connected properties:
- a one-time buy-in fee and a connection charge,
- the current sewer rate (the same rate charged to Winnipeg sewer ratepayers), and
- an annual participation fee.
The City of Winnipeg has excess capacity within its existing sewer infrastructure and treatment facilities, which can be used assist a neighbouring community. This is the second time the City of Winnipeg has partnered with a neighbouring community for sewage collection and treatment. An agreement was reached with West St. Paul in February 2013.
In December 2012, Winnipeg City Council authorized the Chief Administrative Officer to negotiate and approve service-sharing agreements for the provision of wastewater services under the “Basic Terms of Service Sharing Agreements for the Provision of Sewer Services to Neighbouring Municipalities” adopted by Council.
Since 2005, considerable steps have been taken in strengthening cooperation among Capital Region municipalities, including more effort on communication and establishing relationships, and support toward regional service sharing, as well as joint land use planning. This direction aligns with the OurWinnipeg plan and the Complete Communities strategy document approved by Council.
In December 2005, Winnipeg City Council had directed the CAO to identify inter-municipal service sharing opportunities through an Expression of Interest process, and that the following five principles be used to guide the process, to ensure that service sharing agreements:
- are government to government,
- are consistent with the City's existing and future capacity to provide the service,
- are founded on a strong business case to ensure the efficient delivery of the service in the region,
- incorporate a joint planning agreement to manage development and related environmental concerns, and
- include a provision for tax/revenue sharing.