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CALGARY
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METRO FILE
Water rates could rise by more than 24% by 2015 Council to discuss the 2012-2014 budget cycle today The average water bill in Calgary is currently $75.54 KATIE TURNER
CALGARY@METRONEWS.CA
Metro has learned administration will recommend council hike water fees by an average of 7.5 per cent over each of the next three years to deal with rising debt.
Calgarians may be forced to swallow a more than 24 per cent hike in their water bills over three years, according to information obtained yesterday. Metro has learned administration will be presenting council with two scenarios for a rate increase: a three-year term and a six-year term, the latter of which they’re recommending. Sources have confirmed the sixyear-term would see water fees rising by 7.6 per cent in 2012, 7.5 per cent in 2013 and 7.4 per cent in 2014, resulting in an average water bill of $93.84. The last three years of the term will see the rate of increase decline. In addition, waste-water fees could increase by 13.5 per cent for each of the next three years.
While Ald. Gord Lowe remained mum on the specifics of administration’s recommendations, which are expected to be presented to council in camera, he said a rate increase is inevitable. “Given the situation with our utilities, there will be substantial rate increases for the next several years,” Lowe said. The $430-million Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Centre as well as upgrades to other city water facilities have led to hundreds of millions of dollars of debt for the city — one of the key reasons behind the proposed rate increase, several aldermen have said. “It’s a fairly extensive increase,” Jones said of the potential fee hikes, “but the problem is the utility is virtually going broke. It’s something that has to be done.”
Costly resource Utility bill. Homeowners pay for water, waste water and stormwater drainage on their utility bill. Increasing rates. Water rates have increased every year since 1995, according to the city’s website. Accommodating new residents. According to the city’s water services department, new facilities were necessary to accommodate the 220,000 citizens who have moved to Calgary in the past decade. Reducing water use. The city has set a target of reducing Calgary’s per-capita water use to 30 per cent of the 2003 levels by 2033.