CARSTAIRS – For the first time in seven years, the Town of Carstairs council has approved an update to the municipality’s off-site levy bylaw covering water, sewer, storm and transportation levies.
The approval came during the May 12 council meeting.
Chief administrative officer Rick Blair said the updated Bylaw No. 2052 is the result of a report prepared for council and the town.
“We had a report done by our engineers, an off-site levy report,” Blair told the Albertan. “The report is to provide full costing details for water, wastewater, storm water, transportation infrastructure required for the town.
“We usually review it (the bylaw) every year and update it every two to three year, and we haven’t done it for seven years. We have updated it and brought in new rates.”
The updated rates are comparable with neighbouring municipalities of the Calgary-area community, he said.
“The recommendation was for $93,000 a hectare and we ended up around $71,000 just to be competitive with surrounding communities,” he said.
According to the updated bylaw, the water levy is now $1,266 per lot, $15,450 per residential hectare, $10,815 per industrial and commercial hectare, and $152 per unit.
The sewer levy is $3,082 per lot, $35,664 per residential hectare, $24,964 per industrial and commercial hectare, and $369 per unit.
The storm levy is $848 per lots, $10,621 per residential hectare, $7,434 per industrial and commercial hectare, and $101 per unit.
The transportation level is $741 per lot, $9,265 per residential hectare, $6,485 per industrial and commercial hectare, and $88 per unit.
The bylaw states, in part, that the “object of the off-site levy or levies imposed and collected pursuant to the bylaw are to pay for all or any part of the capital costs, including for new or expanded facilities for the storage, transmission, treatment or supplying of water, new or expanded storm sewer drainage facilities, and new or expanded roads required for or impacted by a subdivision or development.”
In conjunction with the updated off-site levy bylaw, council also approved an amendment to the Rates and Fees bylaw to reflect the new off-site levies.
“We want to make sure that we are capturing all of the infrastructure that needs to be. We are right now looking at a new water reservoir, probably be built within the next year. It is very important for us to be able to get that infrastructure in place," CAO Blair said.
