Further to your May 21 article entitled “Utility Bylaw gets ‘fair and equitable’ changes,” the "fair and equitable" is not applied in all cases by the Town of Innisfail.
On Aug. 30, 2018 I wrote to the Town of Innisfail CAO, Todd Becker at that time, and expressed concern over the assessment of multi-family properties of the $10/month flat rate for water and $10/month for sewer.
The concern is not so much the assessment but rather the manner in which it is applied to multi-family properties.
Mr. Becker was courteous and wrote back that he would consult with his staff for a review of the policy. I have not heard further from these folks or anyone else at the town office about this matter.
I am led to understand from the town office that all properties in the town serviced with water and sewer pay the levy based on having a meter for water service – except multi-family that is assessed on a per suite basis, even if the building has only one meter.
When the associated bylaw was written, according to the town website, the assessment of multi-family was supposed to be by meter.
Then very quickly, someone at the town reinterpreted and changed that provision to be applied to multi-family properties by suite.
Commercial properties with one water meter, but multi tenants, are assessed based on the one meter, or currently $20 combined per month. A 24-unit condo property or apartment is assessed $480 per month.
The town’s application of "fair and equitable" is absent when it comes to its treatment of multi-family properties.
The fact is that the town’s application of the Utility Bylaw is "unfair and inequitable" and frankly downright punitive and prejudiced against multi-family properties.
Thank you for allowing this matter to be exposed to the public.
Daryl Hillman, Legacy Communities Inc.,
Innisfail
