WINNIPEG — Mayor Sam Katz is facing mounting pressure to retroactively reimburse taxpayers who have dealt with frozen pipes since the beginning of the year.
Winnipeg has had more than 2,000 reports of frozen pipes this winter; it normally deals with roughly 100.
When frozen pipes are reported to the city, standard protocol is for workers to determine whether the freeze happened on the city’s side or on the property owner’s side.
If it was on the city’s side, the service fee is waived.
Earlier this March, Katz announced the city would reimburse the cost of thawing pipes to any property reported to 311 as of March 11. The date was then pushed back to Feb. 28.
However, some city councilors believe citizens should be reimbursed for the $305 cost of thawing services dating back to Jan. 1.
A report detailing the cost of doing so is expected to be discussed at Wednesday’s meeting of the city’s Executive Police Committee.
As of March 18, there were 1,278 properties on the wait list for thawing services.
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