Guelph-Eramosa has provided preliminary approval to a plan that will increase the monthly combined water and wastewater rate in Rockwood by 52% by 2016.
For township residents connected to the Hamilton Drive system, the annual water bill will increase 80% over the next five years, and for homeowners on the Gazer-Mooney system the flat rate water and wastewater bill will rise by 40% over the same period.
“Any increase is always painful,” Mayor Chris White said last week. But he added the township has to look forward and plan for future infrastructure costs for the municipality’s systems.
A report from Gary Scanlon, of Watson and Associates Economists Ltd., which outlined proposed water and wastewater rates in the township over the next 10 years, was “very concise,” White said.
Scanlon told council and the five others in attendance on June 20 that water and wastewater costs for Guelph-Eramosa rose 25% after the Walkerton tragedy in 2000, thanks to new provincial legislation. However, over roughly the same period, the monthly base water rate of $4 had not increased at all.
“We have to start increasing it,” Scanlon said, noting a sustainable system means municipalities have to generate revenue for themselves.
For those connected to the Rockwood area and Hamilton drive systems, his report proposed increasing the monthly base water rate from $4 to $4.20. The report also proposed introducing a new monthly base wastewater charge of $4.20 for the Rockwood system (currently there is no base rate).
Also proposed are gradual increases to the consumption rates in the Rockwood and Hamilton Drive systems, as well as to the flat rates in the Gazer-Mooney system.
The changes mean the monthly combined water and wastewater bill for those on the Rockwood system – based on usage of 210 cubic metres per year – will increase by an average of 6.7% per year for the next nine years. By 2016, the current combined rate of $60.53 will increase by 52% to $91.86, and by 2020 it will increase a total of 78% to $107.65.
Users on the Hamilton Drive system – based on 260 cubic metres per year – will see their monthly water rate increase an average of 10% over the next nine years. The current monthly rate of $33.03 will increase by 80% to $59.52 by 2016 – and by 133% to $76.97 in 2020.
Gazer-Mooney users will see their monthly flat rate bill increase 7% every year until 2020. By that time their current rate will have increased a total of 84%. It will increase by 40% over the next five years.
While Scanlon’s report included proposed water and wastewater rates for the next decade, he stressed council is required to file with the province its rate plan for just the next six years.
Councillor Doug Breen noted over 90% of the local bill – other than in Gazer-Mooney – is based on volume, so “he who conserves the most, saves the most.”
He echoed the mayor’s sentimentsabout putting money away for future system costs.
“I’m glad to see we’re taking a proactive view,” Breen said. “We have to get caught up sometime.”
Even with the increases proposed, Breen noted the township’s rates are about right in the middle of the list of municipal rates across Wellington County.
He quipped the Guelph-Eramosa water and wastewater bills will still not compare to other local household expenses such as the cable bill.
He said he’s happy with the report from Scanlon and the “smooth” transition from the 2011 rate to the 2020 rate.
Councillor John Scott said the township assuming control of its water and wastewater systems in 2009 was “a major step forward” in helping to save costs within the systems.
Councillor Corey Woods noted some people on the municipal water systems can begrudge their rural neighbours, incorrectly assuming those people get free water and wastewater services.
But rural residents are on their own for any well or septic system repairs on their property, he explained, and those costs are likely similar to what those on the municipal system pay to the township.
Council unanimously approved the rates as proposed by Scanlon, though a bylaw will have to be passed to officially approve the changes, effective next year.
