Some on city council ‘very concerned’ about possible water rate hike  

Calgary City Council spent Tuesday reviewing the independent report on the Bearspaw South Feeder Main failure, shifting the conversation to the potential costs of future improvements to the city’s water system for residents.

City administration walked councillors through the report’s recommendations and outlined the next steps, including the development of an implementation plan that will return to council in February.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas said the recently approved budget already commits substantial funding to Calgary’s water infrastructure. He noted that any future adjustments to utility rates would be made with affordability in mind.

“In our recent budget deliberations, we allowed for $1.1 billion in investment in our water utility,” said Farkas. “That’s a good three or four times what a typical council will allow for.”

“What we’ve shown is that we can actually do the investment and needed services while keeping costs reasonable. Earlier in the meeting, the panel chair said that we should be targeting inflation as far as the rate increases should be.”

Some councillors, however, voiced concern about what may lie ahead. Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness warned that the next budget cycle could bring sharper increases to both utility rates and property taxes.

“We drained the reserves because there were councillors putting new spends before us rather than investing in the boring infrastructure,” Wyness said.

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot echoed the worry, saying he “wouldn’t be surprised” to see significant utility rate hikes.

“It comes down to the age-old argument with new councils, old councils. It comes down to managing expectations,” he said.

The meeting also addressed why the High Priority Action report, provided to the administration by the independent review panel in October, was not immediately shared with the council. Chief Operating Officer Stuart Dalgleish told councillors the early delivery allowed administration to assess whether additional budget approvals might be required.

“Delivering the High Priority Action Report at an earlier stage enabled administration to consider whether additional budget approvals would need to be sought from council to undertake the high priority action report’s recommendations,” Dalgleish said.

Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston previously expressed frustration with the delay, and on Tuesday, the mayor added that if the recommendations were urgent, council should have been informed immediately.

Administration is expected to return to the Executive Committee in February with a full implementation plan outlining how the independent review’s recommendations will be carried out.