Water Rates Could Rise 4%

Written by Peter McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM Thursday, 29 January 2015 15:00
Water rates in Greater Vernon could go up four percent this year. That's the figure water staff are proposing for all the user groups including residential. commercial, agricultural and industrial. Greater Vernon Advisory Committee chairperson Juliette Cunningham says directors will discuss the rates more, at their meeting February 5. "We all know that nobody likes to see increases, but from what I've seen, I think it's reasonable," says Cunningham. Consumption rates went up anywhere from three to 21 percent last year, depending on usage. "It's a challenge for some residents, especially seniors on fixed incomes, so I don't ever want to minimize that four percent is still an increase, but overall it's not a huge increase," adds Cunningham. The impact four percent would have on the average homeowner has yet to be calculated. Regional District of North Okanagan staff say four percent would fund an improved capital program and boost reserves for future capital needs. Vernon Mayor Akbal Mund has a concern about increasing rates to build up reserves. "If you are putting away reserves, you can't be putting those away for use ten years from now, because if it's for the ratepayer, it's for the ratepayer now for this year or the following year, not 10 or 20 years down the road," Mund tells Kiss FM. Directors will also consider rate hikes of two and ten percent. "Until I get the rates calculator, I would never agree with a four percent increase across the board on anything," says Vernon director Bob Spiers. "Since half of is to put more money into a reserve pile, I can't see. I really can't," adds Spiers. Spiers say it's one thing to build reserves for emergencies like broken pipes that come up, but he doesn't agree with using rate hikes to build a new plant or add filtration. He says long term borrowing should be used for those projects. "The borrowing at least spreads it out to the people who are going to benefit from it."
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Directors may hike Greater Vernon water costs
by Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star posted Jan 29, 2015 at 12:00 PM
Greater Vernon officials are debating the cost of water. Directors at Thursday's Greater Vernon Advisory Committee meeting were presented with a proposed 2015 water utility budget, including a four per cent hike in rates. "It's reasonable," said director Akbal Mund. "Lots of pipes are old and they GVAC staff) are looking at what we need to do. I understand that." In a report, staff says the water utility’s long-term capital program must focus on replacing aging infrastructure, expanding to provide additional capacity and improving water quality to meet provincial regulations. The rate increase would also provide additional funds for future capital projects through a $736,000 increase in transfers to reserves. Look for more in Friday's Morning Star.