Water and sewer rates will rise in Yorkton in 2021 but at a more modest rate than in recent years.
鈥�The 2021 proposed water consumption and sewer rate increase is one per cent, and this figure was identified to develop the 2021 Operational and Capital budgets,鈥� explained Aron Hershmiller, Assistant Director of Environmental Services with the City at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Monday.
The rate increase for 2017 through 2020 has ranged 3.15 to 3.97 per cent.
The rates are reflective of utility needs, said Hershmiller.
鈥�The City continues to plan for the future with the forethought and need to manage our utility and replace aging water and sewer infrastructure. Through long term financial planning, the Environmental Services Department and the Finance Department have previously reported, that in order for the waterworks utility to remain self-sufficient, and to continue replacing aging infrastructure it would require a three to four percent annual rate increase. These rate reviews are completed annually and can vary significantly depending on the list of Capital projects,鈥� he told Council.
Some future Capital projects consist of a Wastewater System Renewal, the addition of new Water Meters, Water and Sanitary replacement, plus additional Water investigation and Water Well Improvements.
鈥�These capital projects will dictate what future increases will be required in order to finance these projects,鈥� said Hershmiller.
The base rate will also climb.
The Base Rate charge includes the cost to replace meters, water and sewer service connection replacement, meter services, water billing, and corporate service expenditures. With increasingly more service connection breaks, and with replacement costs increasing, we have to continue with increases to our base rate, detailed a report circulated to Council Monday.
鈥�We are proposing a $3.00 / month increase to the residential base rate, and a $1.00 / month increase to the commercial base rate along with a $1.50 / month increase to outside city industrial base rate,鈥� said Hershmiller.
鈥�By increasing the base rates and increasing the water consumption rates for 2021, this added increase will help the City to continue to improve identified Capital and Operational infrastructure projects such as water and sewer main replacement programs and water service repairs and breaks.鈥�
Hershmiller said there remain issues with the pipes under city streets.
鈥�The City continues to experience a significant amount of residential water service and water main breaks each year, with the majority of service leaks occurring in subdivisions that are less than 50 years old, while the majority of water main failures are in the older cast iron pipes,鈥� he said.
At present some 50 per cent of what crews do is affect repairs. 鈥淭his workload currently equates to approximately 50 per cent of the water & sewer systems crews workload, which only leaves 50 per cent for all the other regular maintenance items to be completed on annual basis,鈥� said Hershmiller.
In 2019, costs surpassed $700,000 for emergency service connection leaks and water main breaks, and 2020 is on pace to have similar costs, he said.
鈥�Therefore we have increased the budget for water main breaks / service repairs from $570,000 to $700,000,鈥� said Hershmiller.
The Water and Sewer underground system is an extensive system made up of different age class and type of piping from cast iron to PVC.
鈥�There is over 280,000 meters of underground pipe ... with a current replacement price tag of over $750 million,鈥� said Hershmiller.
For 2021:
*$710,000 towards Water Main replacement
*$280,000 towards Sanitary Sewer replacement
鈥�We currently have 24,400 meters of pipe that is over 65 years old, and with a current replacement cost of approximately $2,900/m that totals over $70 million dollars just to replace that aging water pipe,鈥� noted Hershmiller.
With a 2021 budget of $710,000 鈥渇or replacement it鈥檒l take nearly 100 years just to replace this aging infrastructure that makes up around 16 per cent of our water pipe, not including sewer or storm pipe,鈥� he continued.
鈥�The cost of water line replacement, seems expensive and these numbers are staggering, however, the cost to repair leaks are three to four times greater than planned replacement costs.鈥�
For illustrative purposes, looking at the City of Yorkton鈥檚 proposed 2021 rates with 10 other Saskatchewan cities鈥� 2020 rates. When comparing Yorkton鈥檚 proposed base rate of $17.25/month to the other cities, Yorkton鈥檚 rate is lower than the average base rate charge of $45.08 / month.
Also comparing Yorkton鈥檚 water usage rate with the other cities, by taking Yorkton鈥檚 average of 13 cubic meters (2,860 gallons) per household per month. Using this figure an average home in Yorkton can expect monthly cost of $59.37 compared to $55.98 in 2020.
