Town council confirmed utility rate increases on March 26 that were included in the 2013 budget.
Council voted to increase the solid waste rates for all customers by 43 cents per month to $19.30 per month.
It also voted to increase water rates to all customers by five cents per cubic metre to $2.61 per cubic metre and to increase wastewater rates by $1.30 per cubic metre for residential customers to $2.78 per cubic metre. Non-residential wastewater rates also increased by $1.30 per cubic metre to $3.23 per cubic metre. All the rate increases were to take effect April 1 and will appear on customers' April bills that will be mailed out in early May.
All of the increases were made necessary in order for the town to fully recover the costs of the services the town provides.
Coun. Harvey Walsh, council's representative on the South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Commission, said while originally wastewater was scheduled to be taken from Olds – which is the south end of the wastewater line – north on April 1, there is some work still to be completed at the Bowden pumphouse. As a result, water won't begin to be pumped north until about the end of April.
The Olds pumphouse has been tested and is ready to go.
“The colder it is, the better it is for Bowden because where they have their lift station it's quite a swampy area and they can only work there when it's frozen,” he said.
There was some discussion around the Olds council table on whether to hold off on the rate increases until the wastewater is beginning to flow north from Olds. But it was decided to have the money in hand by the time the work on the Bowden pumphouse is completed rather than delay collecting until after the system begins working.
All the current rates are based on the provincial government funding 90 per cent of the construction costs of the line and the member municipalities of the wastewater commission paying the remaining 10 per cent. In light of the provincial government recently indicating because of revenue shortfall it can only fund 80 per cent of the project, Walsh said wastewater commission members will be lobbying Alberta Infrastructure Minister Wayne Drysdale for the government to fully fund its previously agreed-to portion of the project.
A meeting between the commission and Drysdale to discuss funding for the remaining northern part of the line to the Red Deer Wastewater Treatment Plant is in the works, Walsh said.
“We're anticipating within the next week or two that we'll know something (about a meeting),” he said.
