Kitchener water, sewer rates likely to jump 6.5 to 7 per cent in 2018
KITCHENER — Kitchener residents will likely see a 6.5 to seven per cent increase in their water, sewer and stormwater rates in 2018, after city councillors debated options for how to replace its aging infrastructure without placing too heavy a burden on ratepayers.
Councillors wrestled between how much to pare back planned rate increases, while still addressing the need to fix the system. “Finding that right balance is key,” said Mayor Berry Vrbanovic.
For the past three years, Kitchener residents have seen annual increases of close to 10 per cent to their water, sewer and storm water bills as the city has embarked on a program to replace aging water and sewer pipes that would pile on significant increases every year for at least a decade.
But councillors made it clear a decade of steep increases was unpalatable, and asked staff earlier this year to come up with more affordable options for fixing the city’s infrastructure.
If the original increases had gone ahead, the compounded effect would have meant that the typical water and sewer bill would have skyrocketed from $746 in 2014 to $1,767 in 2022.
Under the proposals that council favoured at a special council meeting Monday, ratepayers will still face an above inflationary increase in 2018 and for the next several years beyond that, but instead of 9.2 or 9.4 per cent it will likely be between 6.5 and seven per cent in 2018.
Under those scenarios, the typical annual water and sewer tab would jump either $80 or $74 in 2018. The cumulative effect would mean that by 2022, the average rate would be between $1,464 to $1,528 — still about double what people paid in 2014.
Staff were able to come up with slightly lower increases than originally forecast by taking a careful look at the actual age of the city’s full inventory of water, sewer and storm water infrastructure, and doing a detailed analysis of what maintenance would be needed when, and how much it would cost, to see if there were ways to trim costs and still ensure the system is reliable, said Denise McGoldrick, Kitchener’s director of operations for environmental services.
As well, the two cheaper options would stretch out the timeline for replacing aging infrastructure, to 2037 or 2044 rather than 2032 as originally planned. All of the options presented were responsible ones that didn’t jeopardize the safety of the city’s water, McGoldrick said. “We do believe there is an increased risk of water main breaks and service impacts as you decrease the investment (in pipe replacement). However we feel that it is manageable.”
Several councillors were in favour of the least expensive option. Coun, Scott Davey noted that the city could speed up pipe replacement if federal or provincial money becomes available.
Others said they were leaning more toward a middle option; they didn’t favour the lowest increases because that would mean delaying the replacement of all aging pipes until 2044.
“I don’t agree with spreading the cost of this over 26 years — more than a quarter-century,” said Coun. Frank Etherington. “That to me is dumping a huge debt burden on the shoulders of our kids and grandkids.”
Etherington and Coun. Sarah Marsh urged city staff to provide more details about potential programs to offset the string of annual rate increases for the city’s poorest residents, by the time council sets the 2018 utility rates on budget day in January.
I don’t agree with spreading the cost of this over 26 years. COUN. FRANK ETHERINGTON