Havelock Corners Residents Foot the Bill

Thursday, 26 March 2015 at 06:04

County Council was filled with irate residents from Havelock Corners last night as the decision was upheld to have residents pay over $11 000 for sewer and water hookup.

WOODSTOCK - County Council was filled with irate residents from Havelock Corners last night. The residents were fighting to avoid paying a hefty bill for sewer and water hookup, but the decision was upheld by council. Member of the Havelock Corners Rate Payers Association, Robert Watson, goes into detail what is expected from this small community. "63 people are going to be charged $11,200 per house just for the sewer and water being in the road. The boundary for the City of Woodstock moved and the services had to be put in the road."

Warden of Oxford County David Mayberry explained how the process unfolded last night. "The people of Havelock Corners were concerned because they somehow missed the idea that when they did get brought into the City of Woodstock that they would end up getting all city services which includes water and waste water. The reason is that we protect the environment by making sure that we are covering everybody. The system in Oxford is that everybody hooked up to a system has to pay their fair share."

Havelock Corners is comprised of mainly elderly citizens. Mayberry explains ways they will be able to afford the large amount of money. "The county has always had a policy that if someone couldn't pay that they could actually apply to the county to have the cost deferred, and that when the property is sold then the county would get their money from the proceeds of the sale. The more likely option for most people is that they either put it on their taxes and the county is certainly willing to work with everyone to determine what is the best option."

Warden Mayberry found it to be terribly unfortunate that the citizens weren't aware of the process after one of the residents started yelling at council to express his displeasure after the vote had taken place.