TransAqua / Greater Moncton Wastewater Commission has formally accepted its 2015 operational and capital budget which it will be forwarding to the Province of New Brunswick and its partner municipalities of Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview.
As part of its 2015 budget, TransAqua is targeting annual revenues of $12.7 million and a surplus of $2.76 million. The increase in unit rates to municipalities is of 2.5% for 2015, as it has been for the past three years. This increase is less than 17% of the Moncton 2015 water and sewer rate increase and less than 21% of Dieppe and Riverview’s, such that the TransAqua portion of water and sewer rates in the three communities ranges between 22% to 26% of the municipal charge to ratepayers.
Unique in the 2015 budget is the incorporation of a municipal cost-sharing arrangement such as to allow TransAqua to undertake an alternative sewage collector conveyance route in Dieppe in collaboration with the municipality, thereby providing for the strong population growth in the community while doing so through a potential $14-million savings to TransAqua and its stakeholders due to this unique cost sharing approach.
TransAqua has also voted in its new executive for 2015 which consists of:
Chair: Winston Pearce (representing Moncton)
Secretary: Clarence Sweetland (Riverview)
Treasurer: Chanel Michaud (Dieppe)
Other members include:
David Muir (Riverview)
George Somers (Moncton)
Julie Thériault (Dieppe)
"I am pleased to once again be elected to the position of Chair of TransAqua," said Winston Pearce. "We offer tremendously important services to the community and work very hard every day to maintain and improve the quality of our environment as one of the stewards of the Petitcodiac River watershed."
Due to the recent departure of its general manager, Bernard LeBlanc, TransAqua has named Michael Asplet, Director of Finance and Administration, as Interim General Manager as it prepares to undertake a review of its personnel needs and initiate a formal search for a candidate to fill this critical role within the organization.
TransAqua / Greater Moncton Wastewater Commission (www.transaqua.ca) was established in 1983 to support the wastewater collection and treatment needs of the Dieppe, Moncton and Riverview tri-community. Since then, it has developed a 35-kilometre collection network and a treatment facility to best deliver on this mandate. It has also become a leader in the reuse of biosolids through the generation of type ‘AA’ compost (the highest grade currently achieved in Canada) as opposed to disposal in a landfill site. The organization is now positioning itself to further upgrade its facilities to provide an enhanced secondary treatment approach that will allow it to meet recently introduced mandatory federal regulations prior to the 2020 deadline.
Media contact:
Chanel Michaud
Treasurer
TransAqua / Greater Moncton Wastewater Commission
(506) 381-9364