Yesterday I received some information regarding the triennial
budget, Information that I had requested from the Municipality back in June. Big
thanks to CAO Myron Thompson and his staff
for getting that to me.
First, the good news there is no projected Utility Rate
Increases for 2013-2014 (Water, Sewer, Garbage, Recycling)
The Bad News our Franchise Fees will be going up next year,
the fee we pay on our Gas bills that is then handed over to the municipality will
increase next year by 75% which will take an additional $211,980 out of the
taxpayers pockets.
The fee we pay on our power bill will be increasing by 43%,
which will take a further $124,965 out of the taxpayer’s pockets.
That means in total an additional $336,945 will leave our
bank accounts and be used to feed the municipalities appetite.
The only bright note from this is that the municipality will
have reached the maximum it can charge for Franchise Fees at that point, so
barring a change in regulations by the provincial government it will not go any
higher.
Above I have just indicated what the increase in Franchise
Fees will be for next year. In total Franchise Fees collected in 2013 will be
$906,694 or roughly $285 per household.
