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Saint John pays about $16 million a year in operating costs for water and sewerage. Moncton pays a little more than $4 million.

In 2004, Saint John's water system was contaminated with E. coli bacteria due to technical problems. Residents were lucky no one died. Moncton hasn't had any trouble with water quality in years.

How did a city with a smaller tax base take such a leap ahead? It struck a partnership with the private sector to build and manage a new water treatment plant. The contract cut the cost of Moncton's upgrade from a projected $32 million to $23 million. It dramatically improved water quality after several years of lengthy summer boil water orders. And it left the municipality in charge of the water supply and the rates charged to residents of Moncton and neighbouring communities.

Councilor Stephen Chase believes Saint John would benefit from a similar partnership. He's drawing attention to Moncton's success, and the success of Ontario towns such as Goderich and Walkerton - the community that switched to privately operated water treatment after a devastating E. coli outbreak that claimed seven lives and sickened dozens.

Public private partnerships offer municipalities the opportunity to get major projects completed on time and on budget, often for a fraction of the cost of performing the same work in-house. And, since municipal council designs the call for proposals and draws up the contract, the community sets the parameters, from the price residents are will to pay to the volume of risk the private sector partner is expected to carry.

Saint John could use these advantages. The city has a wish list of water treatment and piping projects to complete, with an estimated cost of at least $140 million. It also needs to complete tens of millions of dollars more in overdue roadwork. The cost of these projects could be cut by a third and the timeline for completion reduced to a couple of years, if the city can sort out what it needs and how much financial risk it wants to transfer to the private sector, then issue requests for proposals.

Moncton saved one third the cost of its water treatment project. It controls the water supply, the quality standards, and the cost of delivery to 80,000 customers. In nine years, it has had no complaints; and similar stories are told by the mayors of Brockton (which includes former Walkerton) and Goderich, Ont. Moreover, none of these communities experienced job losses or loss of benefits for the few city employees whose jobs were transferred to the private sector.

Public-private partnership is the way to go given Saint John's financial situation, and given the fact the federal government has declared it will only fund infrastructure projects with a P3 component.

It's time councilors directed senior city staff to start drawing up a reference case - what it would cost for the city to proceed on its own - as the prelude to inviting companies to bid on the water treatment project.