The warning came in advance, but it still doesn’t make it an easy pill to swallow — especially along with a 10 per cent property tax increase.
The average Cochrane household can expect to pay another $6.80 per month in utility fees, or $81.60 annually, starting this month.
“This increase was included in the 2022 operating budget, which was adopted by council in December 2021,” said Cochrane's corporate services executive director Katherine Van Keimpema in a statement.
“We delayed implementing the increase to provide residents the opportunity to understand and prepare for the cost increase in advance of it showing up on their utility bill.”
Warnings also appeared on residents January and February utility bills.
In November's budget talks, Van Keimpema pointed out uncontrollable utility department cost increases. Calgary's wastewater charges went up by $390,000, the town’s water contract by $85,000, waterline repair by $300,000, water chemicals by $41,000, waste and recycling carts collection by $85,000 and management of hazardous household waste by $25,000.
“A lot of this is growth, but also a lot of it is a price increase,” Van Keimpema said in a Nov. 15 council meeting. “All of that adds up and puts pressure on our utility department.”
In addition, the town agreed to take over drainage management of the Highway 1A storm water system as part of an arrangement with Alberta Transportation so they could proceed with roadway improvements. This is expected to cost another $62,000.
The town also introduced new utility programs in the budget that include a rate review, which is expected to cost $70,000 in 2022, a CCTV inspection program costing $500,000 each year from 2022-24, and valve replacements which will cost $400,000 each year.
Residents will notice, too, a consumption fee rather than a flat fee has been introduced to encourage water conservation.
According to the town, the average dwelling doesn't use more than 15 cubic metres of water each month.
Between rising taxes, the cost of fuel and groceries, many Cochranites are already feeling the pinch and 2021 town council candidate Brandon Cruze said it’s time to make changes to take unnecessary pressures off taxpayers.
“Council really needs to start taking a look at things that generate revenue outside of taxes,” said Cruze, whose platform was based on generating other streams of municipal revenue.
“The way things are trending, everything is just gonna continue to go up, up and up and the only place to get [the money] to pay for it all is either from the taxpayer or from somebody else.”
To offset utility fees, Cruze suggests a solution could be to introduce a Municipal Hotel Tax or a mandatory Destination Marketing Fee (DMF) to be paid by visitors and tourists staying overnight at Cochrane hotels.
The Town of Cochrane already has a voluntary three per cent DMF that hotels can opt-in or out of.
The Super 8 is currently the only hotel in town that has the fee in place. Days Inn used to implement it and so too did the Ramada, before it closed after catching fire in February.
At three per cent, a current $120-night stay at the Super 8 generates $3.60 to be reinvested back into Cochrane's tourism and visitor economy.
Cruze argues the money should be up to local taxpayers to decide where to allocate. While he understands a mandatory implementation of the fee may not immediately relieve all tax pressures, he believes it could make a substantial difference to residents in the long run.
“There’s plenty of ways to use this revenue," he said. "And ultimately it should be left up to the residents to decide how it’s used. I am, however, confident that residents would agree that shaving some of the money off of their monthly bills would be a welcomed direction for council to take."
In B.C., the province has what's called a Municipal and Regional District Tax; similar to a DMF, except it's a mandatory fee collected from hotels.
In Kelowna, the three per cent it collects goes to the provincial government for its B.C.-wide tourism events program, but 2.8 per cent of that is returned to the city for destination marketing or affordable housing initiatives.
Cochrane Tourism's executive director Jo-Anne Oucharek said the voluntary nature of Alberta's fee makes it challenging for marketing organizations to promote locations, like Cochrane, as the funding is never secure.
However, she said, it remains a key piece to developing revenue without growth in the community.
"When a visitor comes to Cochrane and let's say they spend $100 at a gas station; even though it's not necessarily a tourism business like a hotel or restaurant, that money that is spent actually multiplies 15 times in the community," said Oucharek.
"The gas station pays their employees and those employees pay for their groceries, and then those grocery store workers might need to see a dentist or a lawyer and so on."
There are other examples of how the town could look at supporting taxpayers, she said.
Similar to what the City of Kamloops has done, the town could introduce a tax for Airbnb and private vacation rentals to target affordable housing, or perhaps utility fees, specifically.
"We're the fastest growing community [in Alberta] and that comes with a lot of challenges," said Oucharek.
"It does come back to what does the Town of Cochrane want to do as the municipal government. Everything is increasing; groceries, gas. So, how do you help your community?"
For more information visit cochrane.ca/utility-rates.
