Average Water Bill Rises $21.33 This Year in Brockville, Canada (RecorderAndTimes)

Feb.05, 2009 in Water Technology

(Feb. 4, 2009, The Recorder And Times)

It’s going to cost the average Brockville homeowner $21.33 more this year to wash the dishes and flush the toilet.

Director of finance Donna Cyr outlined what amounts to about a four per cent increase to the combined water rate and sewage surcharge Monday night at council’s fourth of five planned budget review sessions.

On the water side, the rate charged by the city will increase by three per cent on April 1 if the budget presented is eventually approved by council.

The wastewater or sewage surcharge, meanwhile, jumps to 136 per cent of what a homeowner pays quarterly for water from the 135 per cent surcharge last year.

For an average family using 25 cubic metres of water per month, Cyr said the proposed increases would see their quarterly water/wastewater bill jump by $5.33 to $154.20 from $148.87. Annually, that household would pay $616.80 for the services, $21.33 more than last year.

In measuring the impact of this year’s city budget on the typical homeowner’s wallet, that brings the total proposed increase over last year to $55.67 – including a $34.31 hike in property and education taxes.

And as council nears the end of its budget deliberations, that tax-increase figure could rise, depending on the result of a series of debates set to begin Thursday night at the last scheduled meeting.

Among the issues that could see the proposed tax increase edge higher are funding requests from St. John Ambulance, University Hospitals Kingston Foundation and the Frontenac Arch Biosphere.

Unbudgeted capital items, including expanding parking space at St. Lawrence Park, could also boost the proposed tax increase, which is now set at 2.37 per cent for the average residential property owner.

The water and wastewater increases proposed for 2009 are something city residents should get used to, according to Cyr.

On the water side, the city is expecting three per cent increases in rates every year through to 2018.

Cyr explained that’s necessary to pay the cost of borrowing for past upgrades to the system as well as planned future work.

Further, she said the city is striving to maintain a reserve fund balance of about $1 million.

“If there’s any capital projects that come up, or emergencies, in both of these water and wastewater (departments), they’re not normally small-ticket items,” she told council.

“So we need to ensure that we have sufficient moneys there to cover the cost of those projects.”

According to the same long-term forecast, the sewage surcharge will rise one per cent in 2010, two per cent in each of 2011 and 2012 and then three per cent in both ‘13 and ‘14.

Driving those increases is the impact of borrowing and operating costs for the new $46-million secondary sewage treatment plant.

The city is borrowing about $9 million to fund its one-third share of the plant’s cost, while director of operations Conal Cosgrove said it will cost about $1 million more annually to operate the plant.

Meanwhile, Cyr pointed out city staff surveyed 10 municipalities to compare water and sewer rates, including Prescott, Gananoque, Kingston, Belleville, Smiths Falls, Owen Sound and Stratford.

“Brockville, even with these increases, is the lowest in that group,” she told council.

(Original Article Here)