Achi news desk-
The way people are billed for water in the Cape Breton Regional City (CBRM) changed on Monday.
CBRM has switched to a system based entirely on customer usage, as opposed to the previous way where water bills were determined mainly by property tax bills.
Sydney’s Wally Doue says with five people living in his middle-class home, he expects he’ll soon be paying more to turn on the tap.
“I think it’s really stupid,” Doue said of the new billing system. “They want to increase our water bill, and this is the only way they are increasing it.”
“People will see two changes,” explained Christina Lamey with CBRM communications. “They will see a change on their tax bill that will see the elimination of the sewer charge, which was based on 19 cents per $100 of assessments.”
People will also see a brand new charge for water and waste water.
Lamey said that although most municipalities already do it this way, he admitted that there are advantages and disadvantages to the new system.
“For the average person, you might earn what you might save on your tax bill again on your water bill,” Lamey said.
Councilor Eldon MacDonald – who voted for the new billing system – said that by saving water, people should have more control over what they pay, noting that water bills could have risen overall if things had leave them unchanged.
“I think the new system will be fair and I think the new system will actually help lower income homeowners,” MacDonald said. “With the new (wastewater) infrastructure coming online, we would probably be looking at increasing that rate to approx. 25 cents for every $100 of assessment.”
Part of the reason the change is happening in the first place is CBRM’s switch to a brand new wastewater treatment system in order to meet federal regulations.
“Someone has to pay for it, so we have to,” Doue said.
The new billing process for the usage-based system began on April 1, in line with the new financial year.
