Myself and many other Olds residents are concerned that water and sewer rates keep going up substantially every year, so I decided to do a residential comparison between the towns on the Mountain View Regional Water Services Commission waterline.
These rates were accessed from utility rate bylaws for each community:
• Olds - $12.83 flat monthly fee, $2.89 per cubic metre, $18.40 wastewater flat monthly fee, $4.53 per cubic metre
• Innisfail - $10.00 flat monthly fee, $2.60 per cubic metre, $10.00 wastewater flat monthly fee, $3.45 per cubic metre, $3.00 flat stormwater charge
• Didsbury - $18.63 flat monthly fee, $2.40 per cubic metre, $9.10 wastewater flat monthly fee, $1.10 per cubic metre
• Carstairs - $14.00 flat monthly fee, $2.75 per cubic metre, wastewater charge is 60 per cent of water consumption
Summary: Based on consumption of 10 cubic metres (10,000 litre) per month your bill would be as follows: Olds $105.43; Innisfail $83.50; Didsbury $62.75; and Carstairs $66.40.
The above mentioned municipalities are paying the same rate for water coming into their communities from the regional waterline. So my question is why are Olds residents being charged substantially more?
This is a question I would like our newly-elected council to take a serious look at and come up with a solution to rectify.
Darlene Hager,
Olds
