CORNWALL – The cost of your water and sewer service in the City of Cornwall is expected to increase 1.43 per cent in 2017.
City councillors were handed the draft budget at the conclusion of the budget steering committee meeting on Monday afternoon.
The average water and sewer bill will go up $8 to $11 per year depending on how many bathrooms and outside taps you have and whether you have a swimming pool.
For example, a house with one bathroom, one outside tap and no swimming pool will see an increase of $8.25 next year.
The main driver of the increase is due to a shift of the burden for water to flat rate users because the city lost a large water user from the commercial metered sector in 2016.
CFO Tracey Bailey told Cornwall Newswatch, Sensient Flavors closed in 2015 but wasn’t reflected in the 2016 water budget, leading to the adjustment for next year.
The rate increase includes roughly $134,706 to cover off the cost of that commercial user.
Fewer dollars will be spent on capital for the plants on Montreal Road (waste water) and Second Street West (water)(about $2.8 million less). The city is also taking $150,000 for water works and $350,000 for waste water works reserve accounts for repairs in 2017.
A special council meeting will be held Monday, Nov. 7, 2016 to discuss and pass the budget.
Correction: The story has been corrected from an earlier version to show the money for water works and waste water works will be coming out of the reserve accounts to pay for work — the money is not being put away.