Westlock residents will soon be paying more on their power and gas bills after town council approved an increase to the franchise fee it charges Fortis Alberta and Altagas.
Westlock residents will soon be paying more on their power and gas bills after town council approved an increase to the franchise fee it charges Fortis Alberta and Altagas.
The franchise fee increase is intended to raise $330,000 for the town, which will be earmarked for road repair and road building projects. Councillors approved the change at the Sept. 10 meeting following a recommendation from director of finance Julia Seppola.
The idea behind raising the franchise fees, which the companies will in turn collect from their customers, instead of simply raising taxes to cover the amount is to more fairly distribute the cost amongst all residents, mayor Bruce Lennon said.
'Everybody with a power bill or a gas bill will pay," he said. 'It will spread the cost more fairly across our town instead of slapping it directly on homeowners."
The change, if approved by provincial regulators, is expected to increase an average resident's power and gas bills by $30 and $40 respectively, but that will vary depending on use.
Seppola said to raise a comparable amount of money, expected to be about $330,000, from raising taxes would mean an increase of six per cent across the board, or about $135 for an average homeowner.
'If you're a high user, it will impact you worse than a low user," she said.
'It's based on how much you consume when it's a franchise fee."
Lennon explained the town has a five-year road plan, which at current price estimates will cost about $3 million for each of those years.
The current funding available for roadwork, including the provincial MSI grant and other discretional funding, is about $2 million.
'If we want to stick with our infrastructure program we have to look at a way to generate additional money rather than borrowing and going further into debt to finance the road projects," he said.
Water and sewer infrastructure in the town is in good shape, he added, it's just the roads that need work now.
Lennon also said the fact road work has been put on hold for two years to channel discretionary funding into the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre project instead has not had a significant impact on the price of road work, just the timing.
'We put our major road projects on hold for about two years," he said. 'I don't think that number's any bigger, but it's delayed some of the projects. We would have done some more major work if the Spirit Centre wasn't on our plate."
