Morden residents may be facing significant increases in what they pay for water and sewer services in the next three years.
The proposed increases still require approval of the Manitoba Public Utilities Board and will be subject to a public hearing process, but city officials acknowledged there will likely be some sticker shock for Mordenites.
The coming wastewater treatment project is the big factor behind the substantial increases, said Mayor Nancy Penner.
“We have a small increase for upgrades to our water treatment plant, but the bulk of it is due to the wastewater facility that will be coming … the capital infrastructure costs we’ve included … to reflect the costs that we will be incurring going forward for the next three years.”
The city has proposed the new rate structure from 2025 to 2027. The charge for each household based on 3,000 gallons per quarter is currently costing $69.05 per quarter. Under the proposal, the rate in 2025 will go up to $87.62 per quarter, then to $106.19 in 2026, and up to $148.22 in 2027
It means that on an average usage of 37,500 gallons for both sewer and water, a home currently paying about $995 a year for those services could see that annual cost go up to $1,253 in 2025, to $1,565 in 2026, and to $2,228 in 2027.
“We haven’t gone to the Manitoba Public Utilities Board for an increase for a number of years,” said Penner. “I think the last one was 2017. We had a slight one in 2022 but that was just to adjust for the flow through charge that we get from the Pembina Valley Water Co-op.”
And Penner noted the city couldn’t necessarily have received approval for annual lesser increases given the restrictions in place with the utilities board approval process. The board may decide an increase is not justified in any given year if costs have been uncertain or not actual costs incurred at that point.
“We have to apply to public utilities board for rate increases, and we have to show that we have those costs to justify the rate increase,” the mayor explained. “We have to show why we need a rate increase. Utilities can’t make money or lose money. We have to be cost neutral.
“We have to justify it, and if we don’t incur those expenses, we can’t just say, well, we’re saving up for a rainy day.”
Financing the wastewater treatment project has continue to be a challenge for the city with spiralling costs and funding shortfalls having the city taking another look at its options. Penner has said everyone recognizes the urgency of finding a solution because further development in Morden otherwise is brought to a halt.
The city thought it had found the answer last May when evaluations for upgrading the wastewater treatment system determined a lagoon-based moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) treatment system was the recommended option based on a cost estimate of $70 million. Over the summer and into late fall of 2023, an engineering firm continued design work on the project, but it came with preliminary costs ranging from $88 million to $108 million.
“We’ve reached that critical point … just going over that 10,000 population puts us in a different ball park or jurisdiction for things like wastewater,” Penner noted. “Municipalities over 10,000 fall into different categories for things like phospate and nitrogen management … Manitoba has some of the highest restrictions in Canada in terms of how we deal with our wastewater.”
The city now awaits a decision by the public utilities board about the proposed rate hikes—a process which could take a few months.
If approved, there will still be a public hearing before the rates can receive final approval from council.
