The City of Winnipeg’s surprise plan to hike water rates will
likely mean a double hit to homeowners, who will not only pay the additional
tab on their own bills but also higher costs at businesses who are forced to
pass the increase along to customers.
City officials announced the planned rate hike
Tuesday afternoon via email, in an email that did not spell out in simple
language what the increase would mean. After an inquiry by Global News, a
spokesperson said the proposed rate hike would add about $50 a year to the
average homeowners water bill and about $250 a year to the average small
business.
City officials say the increase is necessary to
cover the $1.2 billion cost of sewer plant upgrades mandated by the province.
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For Winnipeg
businesses that use a lot of water, the increased cost could be dramatic. At
dog groomer The Pawsh Dog they already spend about $3000 a year on water to
wash pooches.
“It’s going to affect how much we pay our staff, how much staff we can have on
hand to take care of the dogs,” says Laurel Skuba.
At custom car cleaner The Chamois they wash 400
vehicles per day at each of their three locations in Winnipeg. A water rate hike means a spotless
car is going to cost you more.
“Everything is tracked on a per car basis so if costs were to go up 10 cents
per car for example that money may have to be passed on to the customer later,”
says owner Ryan Watson.
Winnipeg consumers are getting dinged all over
the place. On top of the proposed $50 a year hike in the water bill, the average
family is also facing a $50 to $60 a year increase in property taxes, and
another $50 dollars added to water bills in the fall to pay for garbage
collection. There’s also that 20 cent transit fare increase coming in June. But
Winnipeg’s
mayor says it could be worse.
“The only thin you can really do is look around
at other cities in western Canada
and see where we’re doing quite well frank,” Mayor Sam Katz said Wednesday.
If the water rate increase is approved by city
council, it will go into effect April 1.
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