Utility bills are going up for Town of Westlock residents.
It’s regular Jan. 23 meeting, town council passed a bylaw approving rate increases for water, sewer, and garbage.
The breakdown for the average household that consumes 20 cubic metres would pay an additional $6.80 for water, $1.70 for sewer and $8 for garbage, organics and recycling.
Coun. John Shoemaker noted that in total, that would mean an overall increase of $16.50 per household each month.
“The garbage went up, we did everything we could, we tendered,” he said. “The other rates and everything else, we had to pass on. It was either we pass it on to our utility people or the ratepayers — the property owners. We thought it was only fair that the users pay.”
“Like any other operation, we’re feeling the effects of outside contractors that make our fees go higher,” added chief administrative officer Dean Krause.
The Westlock Regional Water Commission increased the 2017 water rate by $0.12 per cubic metre to cover future capital planning projects. The total rate as of Feb. 1 will be $2.79/m3.
Water and sewer will also see a flat rate increase of $1.50 and $0.45.
Those rates will be used to help repay $2.17 million that was borrowed to upgrade road, water and sewer infrastructure as part of the $5.18 million the Southview neighbourhood rehabilitation project in 2016.
The rate changes will cover 21 per cent of the five-year debenture, while the rest would come from reducing annual savings in the town’s reserve fund for capital water and sewer projects.
Garbage rates will rise to $26.10 per household per month due to a new $350,000 contract with GFL Environmental Corp. for garbage, recycling and organics.
“Early in the fall, we went out to tender and we received three tenders and selected the lowest tender,” Krause noted. “Prices significantly went up, so it actually means an $8 increase per month for that service to our residents.”
The contract with GFL is based on a per unit basis, he explained, so for the town’s 1,925 residential customers on a weekly basis, waste pickup costs $5.97 per unit, organics $4.28 and recycling $3.83.
“The contractor pricing, we knew that was coming when we got ‘the good deal’ some years back,” mayor Ralph Leriger added.
The town also has to pay $130,000 to the Westlock Regional Waste Management Commission for tonnage of residential waste brought by GFL and residents.
The bylaw includes a $50 increase for internment at the cemetery, which would be cost recovery for services.
“I know we’ve worked hard to try and minimize this impact as much as we can, and nobody likes to see their taxes go up,” Leriger said. “Money doesn’t come out of nowhere. We need to provide services.”
Krause noted that building permits and development permits will stay the same for 2017.
