(Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Water Utility Budget

Council looks to discontinue septic rebate program

Jan 21, 2021 | 1:02 PM

Prince Albert city council is looking to axe a rebate that reimburses residents with septic tanks for half the cost of their sewer pick-ups.

The rebate is currently received by 185 properties in Prince Albert – all but six of which are north of the river – at an average annual value of roughly $485 each per year.

Pending final approval by council, it will be discontinued in July, saving the City roughly $90,000 annually.

Coun. Ted Zurakowski led the charge to stop giving out the rebate during Wednesday night’s budget meeting, arguing it now long made sense based on how the City currently pays for it’s utility.

History and ‘tax fairness’

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The septic rebate was introduced in 1980 at a time when a charge for water and sewer infrastructure was included on property taxes, the city’s director of public works, Wes Hicks told council. The rationale then was Nordale residents should be reimbursed for the charge, since they didn’t have access to the water and sewer services their taxes were paying for.

However in 1995, when the charge for water and sewer infrastructure was moved onto the utility bill, the rebate remained.

“It [water and sewer infrastructure] was taken off the property tax so people who didn’t receive those services were no longer paying any sort of charges for them,” Hicks said. “At that point in time, the program probably should have ended.”

Zurakowski told council stopping the rebate now was an issue of tax fairness.

“The rest of the residents of Prince Albert are paying for that rebate,” he said.

‘It will cause an uproar’

Meanwhile Ward 2 Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp, who represents constituents north of the river argued passionately to continue it. She said residents in the area already feel like they don’t get good value for their property taxes.

“They say, ‘look I’m paying so much property tax and I don’t have streetlights like people who live on the south side of the river,'” she said, explaining she believed removing the rebate would compound that frustration.

“It will cause an uproar,” she told council.

City council will continue water utility fund, sanitation fund, airport fund and land fund budget deliberations on Thursday night.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom