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Water rates, waste fees to rise in 2021

Rates are going up again for water users across the Sunshine Coast, as are waste collection fees. Directors adopted the increases at a Nov. 26 board meeting and debated the issue at a morning committee meeting.
user rates
Water rates are going up again in 2021.

Rates are going up again for water users across the Sunshine Coast, as are waste collection fees.

Directors adopted the increases at a Nov. 26 board meeting and debated the issue at a morning committee meeting.

Users of the North and South Pender water systems will see the biggest hikes.

Staff recommended increasing North Pender water service area user fees and metered usage fees by 50 per cent, and to keep the parcel tax rate as is. Users who live in single-family residential dwellings will pay $416.61 in user fees and $326.63 in parcel tax.

Chief financial officer Tina Perreault said historically, a portion of parcel taxes has been funding operations, even though SCRD policy mandates that user fees are supposed to cover operating expenses. The increase is supposed to correct that imbalance.

Area A director Leonard Lee said the water service area hasn’t been built out – the area consists of about 760 parcels and 525 billable users – so parcel taxes should cover some of the operating expenses, but he supported the recommendation along with the other directors.

He also said he would “rather see a gradual transition in this case than a one-time leap.”

South Pender fees will increase by 16 per cent for 2021, but parcel tax rates stayed the same. User rates for single-family residences will be $529.14 and parcel tax will be $347.41.

For the 11,160 billable water users in the Regional Water Service Area, fees are going up by 14 per cent and parcel tax by five per cent.

That will raise user fees to $468.37 for single-family residential dwellings, while parcel tax will amount to $290.79.

Staff said the increases were needed to fund future projects.

Sechelt director Alton Toth – the only director to vote against the motion – said he didn’t agree with adopting the fee increases prior to approving projects for 2021. Round 1 budget deliberations are set for February.

He also noted capital and operating reserves have surpluses in 2020 of $1 million and $561,344, respectively. “Do we need such a big increase again this year when we’re putting away more money in 2020 than we even budgeted for?”

Staff said the larger-than-expected surpluses are due to hiring delays and persistent vacancies. It’s also meant they don’t have the capacity to work on capital projects.

Toth said he’d prefer to see a 10 per cent increase to user fees and no increase to parcel taxes. “If we pass it as-is today we’re basically guaranteeing all the 2021 asks are going to move forward as-is because we’ll already have agreed to fund them, whether or not we want to move forward with them,” he said.

Sechelt director Darnelda Siegers noted directors approved all projects at pre-budget. “I think we are at this point considering all these projects,” she said, adding regardless the money would be needed to cover future projects. “We are preparing to fund what we need to fund,” she said.

Director Donna McMahon of Elphinstone said she had questions around supporting well projects for the Eastbourne water system on Keats Island but they were minor budget consideration and so supported the increases.

Toth voted against the motion but it passed.

Last year, large increases to user fees and parcel taxes caused uproar among residents.

Regional water bills jumped by 43 per cent last year, prompting an outpouring of emails and phone calls to the SCRD, and triggering an apology from the CAO and chair Lori Pratt for not communicating the increase.

“A comprehensive communication effort” is underway for this year’s utility rate increases, according to a staff report. 

Waste fees

Rates for waste collection are also going up – by nine per cent in 2021, five per cent in 2022 and 3.5 per cent in 2023.

That will raise rates in 2021 to $191.68 for a single-family residential dwelling and $161.59 for a dwelling in a mobile home park.

The increase was needed after directors approved a base operating budget increase of $385,900 in late 2019 to cover increased costs associated with the new food waste collection service, which launched this October. 

Collection fees increased 14 per cent in 2020 and to offset the increases directors voted to discontinue a coupon program, which is expected to save approximately $68,000.