Council votes to hike Winnipeg water, sewer rates over next 4 years

Winnipeggers can expect to pay more for water and sewer services over the next four years, starting in March.

City council on Thursday voted in favour of a recommendation put forward by the executive policy committee to hike water and sewer rates.

Rates will go up three per cent in each of the first two years, followed by increases of 2.8 per cent in the following two years.

That means the approved water rate jumps to $1.86 per cubic metre on March 1. It will continue to climb to $2 in 2023. The total amount owed quarterly is based on the amount of water used in cubic metres.

The average residential water bill will go up $33 in 2020.

A report to the city's water and waste committee says the main driver behind the recommended increase is providing funding for improvements to the city's North End sewage treatment facility and other sewage infrastructure projects.

The city faces approximately $1.8 billion in costs to upgrade the treatment plant.

Councillors Shawn Nason and Kevin Klein vote against the recommendation.

Klein, who sits on the water and waste committee, doesn't like the way the city takes a dividend out of the water and sewer rates and doesn't direct the cash to upgrades to its sewage infrastructure.

The city takes 11 per cent of the total revenue from sewer and water rates as a dividend. The public service projects the dividend will add $34.5 million to the city's general revenue in 2020 for other resources, such as firefighting, pools and libraries.