WINNIPEG – If you had your water line thawed after December 1, 2013 the city will cover the cost regardless of whether the problem was on city or private land.
The mayor’s Executive Policy Committee voted in favour of the compensation Tuesday. It will still have to be approved by full council.
“The whole idea was to try and be fair, treat people the way you want them to treat you,” said Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz. “And to try and create as much as an even playing field as possible.”
Under the plan, the city would also compensate property owners who hired private contractors to thaw frozen pipes up to $305.
“If you used the private sector, there’s a process that will go through water and waste,” said Katz. “We’ll put out all those details very shortly.”
Until now, the city had only covered the cost for city thawing service done after February 28. Before that date, people had to pay if the water line was frozen on their property and not on city land.
Russ Wyatt, the councillor for Transcona and chair of the finance committee, estimates it will cost around $200,000 for the compensation.
Wyatt said the city is still crunching the numbers to see if it can apply for disaster financial assistance.
“We want to make sure we know what that number is and we’re doing due diligence on that right now,” said Wyatt. “We’re having discussions with the provincial government in terms of our eligible and to esnure that if we do file a claim, what we file for is eligible.”
So far, the city has thawed pipes and restored water service to 821 properties; 1359 remain on a waiting list for service.
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