By Andrew de Souza
paNOW Staff
City council is unable to decide how much to increase city water and sewer utility rates.
On Monday, council members and city administration had a long debate over how large of an increase was acceptable and the justification for an increase in the first place.
The debate began when city manager Robert Cotterill presented updated usage rates from the numbers presented the week before in an executive committee meeting.
The new rates would be $2.70 per 100 cubic feet for water consumption inside the city and $2.90 per 100 cubic feet of sewer use.
“I did go back and reviewed the rates and have proposed a new rate structure that I feel is more palatable to council and I hope to the public,” he said.
The new rate would still let the city break even in terms of operating costs, he said. However, it would not help pay down the $3 million the city had borrowed from reserves for capital costs.
According to the city, the updated fee structure would mean an increase of between zero and seven per cent depending on water use.
“We think it’s a fair rate increase and we continue to have a fair rate structure compared to other cities,” Cotterill said.
Councillors didn’t like the idea of increasing the water rates, given that city residents had experienced increases for many other services in the past few years.
“The biggest issue I have is going back to the tax payer and asking for more, more, more,” said coun. Darren Whitehead. “It’s every year and pretty soon there’s going to be people not able to pay it.”
It was ultimately up to council to decide what cost the service would cost residents, but that they had to realize that someone needed to pay for the increasing cost of running the utilities, Cotterill said.
“We’re running a business on (the people’s) behalf and that business is a deteriorating infrastructure,” he said.
Not only was an increase needed but it would probably be a continuing trend over the next few years, said Mayor Jim Scarrow.
“It should not be a surprise to council that rates will go up in the water department, it’s universally happening in every municipality in Canada that water costs are going up,” he said.
“However I think it’s livable and doable.”
In the end council postponed making a decision until the next council meeting in August.
See related: Water rates to change
adesouza@panow.com
