By DENIS LANGLOIS
Sun Times staff
The cost to use city water will rise by about $1.25 per week for an average residential consumer in Owen Sound.
A household that uses 300 cubic metres of water per year will see their costs for water-sewer service climb by 7.75%, starting immediately. The increase will drive up the annual cost to run the taps from $850 to $916.
Water-sewer bills for commercial users will increase by about 13.11%, while industrial consumers will pay 15.5% more.
City council approved the rate hikes Monday.
Wayne Ritchie, Owen Sound’s director of financial services, said the increases are needed to finance significant upgrades to the city’s water and sewage treatment plants and to make up for lost revenue caused by reduced water consumption.
More than $4 million was spent last year to complete Phase 1 of an upgrade to the waste water treatment plant. About $5 million is projected to be spent on upgrades in 2011, plus $1.1 million in 2012, $970,000 in 2013 and $1 million in 2014.
The four-year capital program for upgrades to the water treatment plant is projected to cost roughly $13 million.
“We see necessity to raise the costs to cover the capital work in the future,” Ritchie told council.
He said Owen Sound’s water-sewer rates are “as good or below” the rates charged by similar-sized municipalities, even with the increase.
The increases will be tacked on to the consumption portion of water-sewer bills, rather than the “monthly service charge.” The sewer rate is 100% of the water consumption rate.
