The Province is thinking about handing off the maintenance and insurance of more than 1.500 dikes to the regional district, which could potentially cost the area millions of dollars.
RDCK chair John Kettle told the Arrow Lakes News he caught wind of this idea from a letter sent to him by the Province.
“They’re basically orphaned dikes put in by the province,” he said. “Now they’re saying we want you guys to take this over. But you’re talking about millions of dollars, because none of the dikes out there are up to standard.”
Kettle expressed his frustration, saying every time he turns around there’s something new the province wants the local guys to take over.
“There’s more and more provincial mandates they’re saying should be the responsibility of the regional district,” Kettle said. “Now they’ve put us in a quandary as to how we’re going to do this.”
Kettle said the board is going to be taking whatever action they can to put a stop to this plan.
Just this last week, the province responded by announcing a teleconference with the regional district.
“We’ve contested, and they’ve answered and said we’re going to talk about this,” Kettle said. “Maybe we can cut this off on the pass.”
However, Kettle warns that if the province continues with this idea, they’re not going to be happy with the action they take.
“It looks good for the province, because they don’t have all this money going out to care for these things,” he said. “But it’s our taxpayers that will be taxed.”
Visit www.arrowlakesnews.com for the updated story this week.