King Township water rate increasing 11.5% in 2018

Yorkregion.com
Simon Martin
Dec. 5, 2017

You will be paying nearly 12 per cent more on your water bill in 2018. King Township council approved the increase earlier this month after a report to council showed the water and wastewater rates for residents and businesses in the township will jump by 11.5 per cent on Jan. 1.

That means the average King Township residential water user will pay $12 more per month in 2018 or an average of $139 more a year. That increase comes after water/wastewater rates had already jumped 10.1 per cent in 2016 over 2015 rates and 11.7 per cent in 2017. The 2018 increase did not come out of the blue as water rates have been projected to jump in municipalities across York Region by an average of nine-10 per cent a year over the next four years.

The Region of York, which supplies water for the township, is moving away from subsidizing water and wastewater through property taxes in the future. That comes after legislation from the province of Ontario that water and wastewater systems must operate on the basis of a full cost recovery rate structure with no subsidies provided. It is believed the combined cost to the user for water and wastewater would jump by an average of about nine per cent a year through 2020, when it's believed full cost recovery will be reached.

The township of King provides water services by way of four distribution systems: Ansnorveldt, King City, Nobleton and Schomberg. The township sources its municipal water supply requirements from the Region of York's water distribution systems. The township's water and wastewater reserve is in a deficit position of just over $3 million but the township expects that number to decline over the next five years as debentures on the King City and Nobleton sanitary sewer project winds down.

The proposed 2018 water and wastewater rates are projected to increase the average annual water bill for a household using 250 cubic meters per year by $42.54 (7.5 per cent) for water services and $96.40 (15.0 per cent) for wastewater services.

On a combined basis, this equates to a total average annual increase of $138.94 (or 11.5 per cent) or $34.74 per quarterly billing period when compared to 2017.