Calgary homeowners could save an estimated $88 on their utility bills next year and $190 in 2018 after city council voted to reduce increases in water, wastewater, and drainage fees on Monday.
While elected officials had already approved an 8.3 per cent hike for water and wastewater bills in 2017 and 2018, and a 19.1 per cent jump in drainage rates, the economic downturn forced bureaucrats to re-think the increases.
On Monday, council passed recommendations from city bureaucrats to slash water and wastewater rate increases and to do the same with the drainage fees.
Calgarians will now see water and wastewater rates hiked 2.5 per cent in 2017 and 2018, and drainage fees will jump 7.4 per for each of the next two years.
Combined, the lower hikes could save the typical household $88 ($70 for utilities and $18 for drainage) in 2017 and $190 ($148 for utilities and $42 for drainage) in 2018, according to the city.
Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu
Coun. Sean Chu failed to convince his colleagues Monday to approve a zero per cent increase for both the water and drainage rates, noting he’s heard again and again from Calgarians that costs are piling up amid the economic downturn.
“The pressure cooker has reached a point of no return and it’s going to explode soon if we keep fueling the fire,” Chu said.
“As council, we have to show Calgarians that we have heard them and felt their pain.”
But councillors argued that no increase in the fees could result in long-term pain, in the form of whopping increases, down the road.
“Going to zero is not a good business decision,” Coun. Ward Sutherland said. “It’s not pragmatic. We have to do what’s right for Calgarians long term.”
Coun. Peter Demong said while it was “intriguing and tempting” to have a zero per cent increase, “it’s just not responsible of us.”
Councillors Chu and Andre Chabot voted against the 2.5 per cent increase to the water and wastewater rate, while Chu, Chabot and Coun. Druh Farrell voted against reducing the drainage fee increase to 7.4 per cent.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi speaks to reporters outside the council chambers in Calgary, Alta., on Monday, July 25, 2016.
The lower water and wastewater increases were made possible in part due to an off-set levy bylaw that was approved in January, ending what Mayor Naheed Nenshi called the “sprawl subsidy.”
“I’m particularly pleased that the hard work we’ve been doing for so many years around making sure that growth pays for itself is actually now starting to pay dividends,” Nenshi told reporters Monday.
The bylaw changed how the city pays for growth by billing developers the full cost of water and wastewater infrastructure in new and established neighbourhoods instead of passing the costs on to all taxpayers.
After approving the smaller utility bill hikes on Monday, council also discussed how to pay for the temporary elimination of the $6.50 per month fee households will be charged when green cart composting is rolled out next spring.
City bureaucrats advised dipping into the $544-million fiscal stability reserve, better known as the rainy day fund, and taking out $13 million to pay for the green cart fee freeze.
Council instead voted to defer a decision on where the money will come from to November when the entire budget is discussed.
In addition to the lower utility rates approved Monday and the green bin service fee freeze passed last week, council agreed in June to give Calgarians a property tax freeze in 2017.
Calgary’s elected officials have maintained the different forms of relief have nothing to do with the looming 2017 municipal election and instead, come from a desire to give Calgarians a break because of the ongoing economic downturn.
