Bills going up Town raises water and sewer rates

Ken Johnston

Just like so many costs of living, the cost of water and sewer services will soon be going up in Rainy River.
Last night Rainy River Town Council passed a new Misc. User Fees bylaw that had an increase in water and sewer rates for its citizens.
Water rates will go from $33.50 to $45.50 per month. That is about a 36% increase. Sewer rates went up as well from $9 to $12 per month (33.3% increase).
However, council decided to reduce the capital charge it has been charging each month from $18 to $9. That is a 50% reduction.
When all is added and subtracted the monthly bill will go up by $6 each month or $18 over the normal quarterly billing. Overall that is about a 10% increase.
Councillor Brent Anderson said that the town really had no choice. “It is a user pay system.” The town can not make a profit off the system but must pass costs onto the users and since the Walkerton tragedy the province has tightened up regulations on water treatment plants forcing increased costs to the users.
As for the size of the quarterly bill councillor Anderson said council is reviewing it and may switch to monthly or bi-monthly billing again. Some citizens are finding the big bill every few months to be burdensome and with it getting bigger may find it more difficult to take.
Water and sewer used to be billed monthly along with electricity. However, when the electric utility was sold to Hydro One, council elected to take the relatively small monthly bill and send out bills every three months.