County amends schedule of fees bylaw

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Wheatland County council, during a special meeting of council, discussed amendments brought forward by administration for the Master Schedule of Fees Bylaw on March 12. 

These amendments were identified since the last time the bylaw was addressed, during the Dec. 5 regular meeting of council.

As presented to council, the county’s utilities team has noted an increase in the cost of water meters. 

The current inventory available costs $584 per unit. Administration had suggested increasing the deposit and sale pricing would ensure the county would be able to fully recover its costs.

It was also proposed to amend the fee structure for dust control services from set rates within the bylaw to note “Material Costs.” 

This approach would be similar to other fees such as FOIP requests, maps, and an assortment of agricultural services.

County administration noted supplier pricing for dust control services is provided annually, near to the start of the dust control planning season, which is cause for navigating the timing for updating the fee bylaw for specific rates to be difficult. 

“There was essentially three overall changes here. The reason why we are bringing these forward in March was related to the dust control area, and there tends to be a little bit of a tight timeline between when we get contractual prices on the product itself and then needing to update our forms for residents to apply for the service,” said Joel Chiasson, manager of financial services for Wheatland County. “When administration was discussing this, we felt it might be more efficient to amend the fee structure to be noted as Material Cost.”

The statement of “Material Cost” in the bylaw provides more flexibility to county administration, without causing disruption to rate collection or service application processes. 

As rate information is conveyed to residents through the county website, the Strathmore Times, and the Dust Control Order Form, administration anticipates the change unlikely to cause impact to residents’ ability to be made aware of the service costs.

The third service to be impacted by the changes suggested by administration would be to snow removal, in a similar capacity being to see that the county is able to fully recuperate the costs required to provide the service.

Coun. Scott Klassen motioned for council to approve first reading of the bylaw amendment following Chiasson’s presentation, without further questions or discussion. The motion was carried unanimously.

Second and third readings for the amendment were subsequently motioned for, and approved unanimously by council.

More information on the changes made to the schedule of fees bylaw is publicly available via the Wheatland County website.