Dear Editor:
When I was on council last term, I was originally very sympathetic to the plight of termite-infested homes and voted certainly to find a community solution. The new exorbitant cost of termite treatment with serious tax increases this year and the recent letter from a new Fergus resident insisting that he is owed, as in entitled, to treatment at every other taxpayer’s expense has made me rethink this problem.
The resident letter (Termite treatment, June 13) stated the resident knowingly bought a termite infested, probably on a discount, treated it, put an addition on his home and now it has termites that he treated at thousands of dollars of cost. He now insists he wants the general public to pay up to $60,000, which is the termite report price tag, to fix his termite problem.
I have a problem with that. Is he going to pay the money back to the community when he sells his $1-million-plus home with perhaps a profit? Highly unlikely.
Yes, the problem is massive. There are over 280 homes confirmed and up to 500 possible for immediate infestation. Yes, it needs a community-wide solution that is comprehensive, rapid and immediate.
Yes, it can and is financially onerous for private owners of the termite-infested homes. But it is wrong to make the whole general public pay for the advantage of private owners increasing the value of their personal homes. This needs a user-pay solution with a loan/lien against the houses that are designated for treatment so the public gets the monies forwarded back when the houses are sold. With financial products like reverse mortgages in the market place I am sure the legal and financial department of the township can figure out an agreement.
A capital reserve created to advance the capital for quick and comprehensive termite treatment and then collect the administrative costs, funds and interest when the houses are sold.
This council needs urgently to rethink this problem that requires no general tax increases and facilitates a user pay solution.
The fact is 26.8% of Canadians are struggling financially, living barely week to week, and those 25 to 54 years of age at 32.7% and locally elderly and lower income residents are struggling to pay rent let alone own a home. Also, there was a 35% increase in use at the local food bank last year.
Centre Wellington council subsidizing owners of million-dollar homes with termites is not a good use of public funds. The only just solution is a user-pay solution.
Stephen Kitras,
Centre Wellington