A sip of water, a flush of the toilet and a trip to the dump are about to become more expensive in the City of North Vancouver.
Council voted Nov. 22 to set the city’s 2022 utility rates, which are expected to rise 8.3 per cent.
For the average strata owner in the city, the staff estimate the 2022 utility bill will come out to $704, while single-family homeowners can expect a bill closer $1,472.
Metro Vancouver warned its member municipalities in October that utility fees were bound for a major increases over the next five years – 55 per cent for water and 113 per cent for sewers, thanks mostly to infrastructure megaprojects. Metro currently has five water tunnels and three wastewater treatment plants in various stages of planning and construction all at once, and the new North Shore plant is badly behind schedule and over budget.
To help mitigate the sticker shock when the utilities bills are sent out between now and 2026, city council voted unanimously Monday night to “smooth out” the projected increases over the coming years, keeping year-over-year changes at less than 10 per cent.
But, the city’s own underground infrastructure is aging and, thanks to a growing population and an increasingly erratic climate, in need of investment in the years ahead, according to staff.
Climate scientists are predicting the region will get slightly wetter but that precipitation will come disproportionately in the late fall, meaning the current system is more likely to be overwhelmed, according to staff.
Coun. Jessica McIlroy suggested council review its stormwater strategy, potentially planning for more permeable surfaces and natural mitigation methods.
“As we've seen, our historical methods of trying to manage storm water are now greatly at risk and failing in a lot of places in the province, unfortunately, for many communities,” she said. “Some of the ways we have done things in the past aren't going to be suitable for us in the future.”
Council is expected to finalize the rate increases in December and send the 2022 bills out in January.
