Utility rates likely to rise next 3 years

City carrying out 14-year upgrade program on sewers

Edmonton residents can expect sewer and garbage fees to rise $60 in 2014 and keep going up at the same rate for the following two years, new reports say.

The eight-per-cent boost in the average homeowner’s utility rates is spurred mainly by rising operating costs, including trash collection, the new Kennedale Eco-Station opening next fall and disposing of sewage sludge.

“I don’t know if I would call (the increases) reasonable. It’s a fact of life.

“We knew when we went through a couple of different debates in the last year that it was coming,” Coun. Ed Gibbons said Friday.

“It seems high, but at the same time it’s not cheap to keep utilities. People don’t see the underground problems we have to fix.”

The city is carrying out a 14-year program to upgrade sewers and make other improvements aimed at preventing flooding in 31 neighbourhoods following major damage from storms in 2004, according to a report.

However, that $146-million scheme may not be enough after 700 basements flooded in Mill Woods and southwest Edmonton during thunderstorms last July.

Meanwhile, waste management faces traffic delays near its Clover Bar facility due to construction of the northeast leg of Anthony Henday Drive.

At the same time, the utility needs a “significant new project” to handle all the organic garbage it receives and could see a drop in the price of the recycled material it sells.

But Gibbons said both areas are run well compared to other cities, and he thinks councillors will just have to “bite the bullet” and accept rising costs until later in the decade.

“We’re getting into some of the last of the bad (sewer) locations, and it all costs money. People complain about potholes if we let our infrastructure deteriorate, but we’re a hell of a lot worse off (not keeping up underground).”

Annual charges for these services went up about $50 this year for the average customer.

The reports will be discussed Tuesday by council’s utilities committee.

Earlier this month, a preliminary report on the city’s 2014 budget estimated residential property taxes could go up five per cent, mainly to run the LRT line to NAIT and new recreation centres, libraries and a firehall.

That would add about $90 to the typical homeowner’s tax bill.