County gets strict on flood remediation funding

Colchester County residents seeking future flood remediation funding from the municipality will have to pay half their share of the costs up front.

Council committee has approved a motion, in principle, that will require property owners seeking assistance on small flood damage reduction projects to pay half of their estimated costs prior to the start of any work on their property.

The issue arose after the Flood Advisory Committee saw a “sharp increase” of instances where residents failed to pay their share of project costs within the required timeframe.

“There have been some folks who have not been paying their contributions,” Mayor Christine Blair said.

A staff report to council shows out of 11 projects undertaken in the 2016/17 fiscal year, five did not pay on time and four remain outstanding. Another account still remains unpaid from the 201314 fiscal year. There was only one cost-shared project undertaken last year and it was paid on time.

Under Colchester’s Small Flood Damage Reduction policy which is governed by the Flood Advisory Committee, property owners can apply to the municipality for financial assistance to repair areas impacted by flooding or for flood reduction purposes.

Successful applicants can pay the remaining half of their floodassistance costs in a lump sum or have it spread out over 12, equal monthly payments. The motion still has to be ratified by council at its next meeting Jan. 31.