As has been the norm in recent years water and sewer rates will rise in Yorkton in 2019.
The rate proposed at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council, and ultimately passed unanimously, was an increase of 3.5 per cent, a number which had already been used in developing the City’s 2019 operational and capital budgets.
“The City continues to plan for the future with the forethought and need to replace aging water and sewer infrastructure,” explained Aron Hershmiller, Asst. Director of Env. Services with the City at Monday’s meeting.
Through long term financial planning, the Environmental Services Department and the Finance Department have previously reported that in order for the waterworks utility to remain self-sufficient, it would require an annual 3.00 to 4.00 per cent rate, detailed a report circulated to Council.
Hershmiller said the annual increases are required “to replace aging infrastructure and to place funding in reserves for future identified capital projects.”
Rate reviews are completed annually and are based upon refined capital project cost estimates. Depending upon costs upgrades to the existing wastewater plant in order to comply with new regulations the utility may require higher rate hikes in future years to meet these financial requirements, he noted.
The increase raises the cumulative increase to rates since 2015 to 17.24 per cent.
In terms of where the money goes Hershmiller said, “Each year approximately $550,000 is allocated to water main replacements, while approximately $250,000 is allocated to sewer main replacements.”
For illustrative purposes, a household using approximately 7,000 gallons per month of consumption will have a monthly bill of $109.95 with the new 2019 rates, as opposed to $106.23, which is a $3.78/month increase. (Average use is approximately 55-85 gallons per person/ per day in the household. So a family of four may use 6,500 to 8,500 gallons per month), detailed a report circulated to Council.
The same report compared costs between five Saskatchewan communities, with Melville the highest at just under $150 based on 7,000 gallons of consumption and on their 2018 rates, Regina, Swift Current and Prince Albert were also listed as higher based on 2018 rates compared to Yorkton’s $109.95 cost after the 2019 increase.
“Going forward, the waterworks utility will continue to have the objective of placing funds in reserves for future projects. The utility is required to be self-sufficient and future expenditures will focus on replacing and expanding water/sewer line infrastructure,” said Hershmiller.
