Storm drain work may see utility bills rise

While city officials continue to tally costs of Calgary’s flood disaster, a per-household estimate to prevent storm drains from being overwhelmed is already in.

Fixing community drainage systems over the next 10 years could hike drainage bills by $1.20 a month — for all Calgarians.

Broader repairs to “unhealthy” river bank areas and storm ponds may bring the monthly surcharge up to $6 within four years, a council committee was told Wednesday.

And unlike the disaster recovery expenses, provincial and federal governments won’t be bailing out the city for these costs, which were actually flagged weeks before the June 20 flood.

For many residents in Sunnyside who were bailing out basements on June 20 — and then again after a July 5 rainstorm — it’s money well spent, and may not be enough.

It’s a chronic problem in the riverside neighbourhood, Sunnysiders told council’s utilities committee Wednesday.

“If I’m flooded every few years, I may as well not replace anything in my home,” said Peggy McDougall.

Others complained about having tough times getting insurance in the low-lying neighbourhood.

Mike Bradfield, one of many who criticized the city’s floodgates for Sunnyside, suggested the city charge an extra $20 per month on the current $8.70 drainage bills, to get everything done more quickly.

It wasn’t only the riverside community worrying about basement floods after bad storms.

Well up the hill and about 20 blocks north of the river, homeowners in Tuxedo Park and Rosemont also told aldermen about repeated overflowing of the stormwater system.

“If people are going to keep suffering in the deluge, we’re going to lose the vitality of Calgary,” said Jane Bartel of Rosemont.

Shortly before the massive flood, city water officials drew up a $170-million list of upgrades to neighbourhood drainage systems, a few of which would ease problems in Sunnyside.

Normal repairs and maintenance on the stormwater pipe network, ponds and outfalls won’t count in disaster recovery programs, water resources director Rob Spackman said.

“They weren’t impacted necessarily by the flood,” he said.

The per-household costs for those drainage upgrades are still estimates, and will have to be approved in a later council budget meeting.

City managers told aldermen the city’s new flood mitigation expert panel won’t consider the largely unrelated drainage problems, and that stormwater problems aren’t fit for the $104-million flood fund the mayor has proposed creating through the tax hike.

The city has already drawn up the ideal drainage fixes, officials told council.

Ald. Gian-Carlo Carra decried the notion of keeping river flooding and stormwater problems separate.

“I don’t think a citizen with a basement that floods cares how it flooded,” Carra said.

If I’m flooded every few years, I may as well not replace anything in my home PEGGY MCDOUGALL