Squamish residents will likely see an increase in utility rates for 2024.
On Dec. 5, District of Squamish council members unanimously approved the first three readings of a bylaw amendment that will increase the utility rates by the following amounts:
- Water: $490 to $500, a 2% increase
- Sewer: $615 to $635, a 3.3% increase
- Garbage:
- Small tote: $210 to $220, a 4.8% increase
- Medium tote: $385 to $405, a 5.2% increase
- Large tote: $600 to $630, a 5.0% increase
Averaging all of the utilities, residents with a small tote will see a 3% overall increase across these utilities, those with a medium tote will see a 3.4% overall increase, and those with a large tote will see a 3.5% overall increase.
For 2023, council approved overall increases between 1% and 2%.
Additionally, some landfill tipping fees will increase into 2024. Council members will likely adopt the bylaw at the next regular business meeting on Dec. 19, solidifying these increases.
Senior financial analyst for the District, Roland Russell, told council the key driver for the increase in water and sewer is to replenish both utility reserves and general capital reserves over the next five years. The increase in garbage is a part of a five-year rate increase that is paying for the vertical wall expansion at the landfill.
“We are in year four of a five-year rate increase program,” said Russell about the garbage utility increase. “And we’ve been increasing the rates by approximately 5% per year.”
Coun. Jenna Stoner said there have been a few years of consistency among water and sewer utilities, so they were playing “catch up” to some degree.
“This is reasonable at this time to make sure that our solid waste and our water utility and our wastewater are all up to speed in order to address the growing demands of our growing population,” she said.
Coun. Chris Pettingill said it was “quite prudent” to increase the reserves and also hoped staff could keep an eye on Squamish’s source of waste, especially if the municipality starts taking on more out-of-Squamish waste, so the muni could charge accordingly.
Mayor Armand Hurford said he didn’t take the increases in utilities lightly, but noted the importance of being proactive in planning.
“Increases aren’t something that we take lightly around this table and in this organization, but I’m confident that all of these are very well-reasoned and with an eye to the future,” he said.
For more information about the utility rates, visit the District’s website at squamish.ca.
