City of Regina approves tax and water utility affordability program

Regina City Council has successfully passed a motion to develop a water utility rebate program and a high-efficiency water retrofits program for low-income senior citizens and people living with disabilities.

The purpose of the programs is to improve property tax and water utility affordability for low-income households with senior citizens and low-income households with people living with disabilities.

Franco Terrazzano who is the Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said said, “It’s good that some people are going to get relief. It is good that council is considering relief, but it’s not fair to then increase charges on other taxpayers. And so many people within Regina have faced a few years that have been really difficult. So higher charges are really going to be coming at the worst possible time.”

“What we need to see is city councillors doing what every other family and business has been doing in Regina for a few years now and roll up their sleeves to find savings in their budget so that they can provide meaningful tax relief to all family and all business taxpayers in Regina,” Terrazzano added.

Regina Mayor Sandra Masters said, “I think in terms of our cities, we are quite similar we have a higher median income and younger population than Saskatoon does I think the notion of that is that even if its three dozen individuals who it makes the difference between staying in their home as opposed to selling and moving out then its probably worthwhile. Because it’s a revenue deferral, it’s not act impacting the budget in a significant way, we can just finance it out of tax revenue right now without any increases.”

The program is aimed to recognize that different people face different challenges and have different needs. Considering that the program is intended to improve equity for those individuals by making property taxes and water services more affordable.

The Water Utility Rebate Program is expected to cost $410,000 per year in rebates. The agenda recommends to approve a 0.5 percent utility rate increase in the 2023 budget in order to fund the water utility rebate program. Which will come at a cost of approximately $0.64 per month for an average residential utility customer.

The High-Efficiency Water Retrofits Program is budgeted at $300,000 per year. There will be a $0.01 daily fee on all the water utility bills to finance the high efficiency water retrofits program starting in 2023.

Program applicants who meet eligibility criteria will give a $0.66 daily credit and a $1.32 daily credit on their water bills.

Households would be considered low income if total before-tax income for each person in the household over the age of 18 years is less than or equal to the Before-Tax Low Income Cut-Off for the appropriate household size published by Statistics Canada for the most recent year.