Table 5-6: Unserviced village characteristics

Table 5-6: Unserviced village characteristics

Town/Village Population Dwellings Characteristics Comments and History of Water Supply Potential Comments and History of Sewerage Potential

Coomba Park 625 445 Village No high community demand for reticulated water supply

North Arm Cove

Stroud Road 445 131 Village Has been demand from developers for the provision of reticulated water to the village 230 112 Village Reticulated water system

Allworth 166 99 Village No high community demand for reticulated water supply

Shearwater Rural residential Reticulated water system

Pindimar 281 84 Village No high community demand for reticulated water supply Bundabah 109 29 Village No high community demand for reticulated water supply Nerong 105 91 Village No high community demand for reticulated water supply Priority area due to environment risk from potential sewerage spills into the Wallis Lake

Has been demand from developers for the provision of reticulated sewerage to the village Potential environmental pressures for reticulated sewerage Priority area due to environment risk from potential sewerage spills into the Karuah River

Fringe area to the existing Tea Gardens system Potential environmental pressures for reticulated sewerage Potential environmental pressures for reticulated sewerage Potential environmental pressures for reticulated sewerage

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5.2 Pricing and Regulation of Water Supply, Sewerage and Trade Waste

MidCoast Water Services’ financial structure is divided into two separate businesses – Water and Sewer. These are subject to legislative restrictions and monetary transfers between two businesses are only permitted with Ministerial approval. A brief summary of the relevant legislation is as follows:

 Section 501 of the Local Government Act 1993 (the Act) allows a council to impose charges for water supply or sewerage services.  Section 409(3)(a) of the Act requires a special rate or charge (which includes water supply and sewerage charges) to be used only for the purpose for it was levied. (Link to

S.409)  Under section 409(5)-(7) of the Act, a council may deduct an amount from water and sewerage funds as a return on capital, that is, a dividend. A dividend can only be paid only after the Minister responsible for water agrees that the council has complied with the

NSW Best Practice Management of Water Supply and Sewerage Guidelines out of funds that are surplus to annual operating costs.

The MidCoast Water Services division also needs to cover MidCoast Council’s internal costs (overheads) from shared corporate services since MidCoast Water’s dissolution and integration into council. A corporate overhead model is under development to provide transparent and cost-reflective internal corporate services.

5.2.1 Full Cost Recovery

Income is obtained from annual water and sewer charges and charges for use, developer charges and occasionally, government grants. Loan borrowings are also used to fund water and sewer capital works.

MidCoast Water Services will continue with the previously proposed increase to water fund rates of 8% in 2018-19 and proposed no increase to sewerage in 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21. Following this, pricing is indexed to CPI each year for the following 29 years for both funds. Both the water and sewerage businesses are capable of funding the new and replacement assets needed to provide the current level of service to its customers and the broader community.

Developer charges are set according to the 2016 Developer Charges Guidelines for Water Supply, Sewerage and Stormwater (DPI Water 2016) and are an important part of fair pricing of water related services.

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