Rocky View County (RVC) council approved the 2022 Master Rates bylaw on Feb. 22, including several changes that will come into effect on April 3.
The bylaw is a consolidation of fees charged by the county for providing goods and services. It is reviewed and updated annually to ensure proper cost recovery.
While the majority of fees in the bylaw remain unchanged from the year before, RVC stated the few rate increases for 2022 were carefully considered and only applied where service delivery costs have changed.
Dog licensing fees were added to the Pets and Animals Section, which will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2023. While this fee is not in effect in 2022, dogs must still be licensed.
Once in effect, a dog licence for a spayed or neutered dog will cost $15, while a licence for a non-spayed or neutered dog will cost $20. At the Jan. 18 meeting, council noted these fees would add up to roughly $60,000 of revenue.
An application fee of $5,000 was added for regionally significant planning applications to be referred to the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board and a withdrawal fee was moved to clarify the refund structure.
West Rocky View water service, West Balzac Service area, West Rocky View sewer service, and West Balzac service area were all added to the Utilities Section.
Various fees in the Utilities Section were proposed to increase by 10 per cent, which according to a County press release, will allow Utility Services to move forward towards its strategy of full cost recovery for its water and wastewater systems.
Specific to the West Balzac area, Steve Seroya, RVC’s manager of utility services, stated this connection fee is part of the strategy to pay back funds used by the area and a more extensive levy will come forward later with a levy bylaw review.
He added the fee increase will be done on a user-pay system, which means those who use more will pay more.
Division 6 Coun. Sunny Samra pointed out that a thousand more utility customers are expected in east RVC with the commissioning of a pipeline who will be expected to pay 10 per cent more for a service they haven’t received yet in order for RVC to recover its costs.
“As more customers come on, more chemical is needed, more electricity is needed, more issues are maintained for the system. The 10 per cent increase is due to no increase happening since 2018 to the Master Rates Bylaw,” Seroya said
Various fees were moved and re-categorized within the Cemetery Section and some cemetery fees will increase by three per cent and five per cent, reflecting the recommendations of both the Cemetery Master Plan and the Feasibility Study.
Additionally, the Guide to Crop Production Blue Book is now offered digitally and the price was removed from the Agriculture and Environmental section.
An internal charge was also removed from the Corporate Properties section.
Various textual amendments will help to better explain and clarify existing fees, and various changes were made to GST to better reflect where it can and cannot be charged.
The 2022 Master Rates Bylaw presentation from the Feb. 22 council meeting can be viewed on Rockyview.ca, the bylaw will be made public once approved.
