As residents in Trail, Warfield and Rossland head to the polls for the October 20 municipal election, they’ll also be voting on a referendum. The City of Trail and Rossland have requested to transfer ownership of the East End Regional Sanitary Service. Frances Maika with the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary says that’s a decision residents get to make. “All of these pipes are owned right now by the Regional District and by extension by the people served in those three communities of Rossland, Trail, and Warfield. All of the electors in those communities have a right to say whether or not they wish these assets, owned indirectly by them, should by transferred.”
Maika says it wouldn’t impact taxes to transfer ownership of the service. “The requisition or the taxes people pay initially should be net neutral – it should just be a direct transfer of ownership. Those costs, depending what happens with those pipes going forward, because once they’re owned by the municipalities, now the municipalities will pay directly for the upkeep, maintenance and so on.”
Warfield’s services will continue to be owned by the RDKB as its pipes serve more than one community, however they still get to vote. Trail and Rossland’s pipes only serve those communities and can be owned separately by those municipalities.
The votes will be complied and tallied all together. Each voter will receive two ballots. Once asking whether ownership should be transferred to the City of Trail and another asking whether ownership should be transferred to the City of Rossland.