Town passes water administration bylaw update

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Town of Strathmore has updated their water administration bylaw, representing the first full update since the 2020 version.

Amendments to the bylaw largely focus on clarifying the existing regulations and addressing specific operational concerns. Though minor changes were made in 2021 and 2022, these represent a more fulsome update to the bylaw. 

“The changes in the bylaw are mostly housekeeping in nature to reflect our current service levels provided by the town and to add some clarity definitions (and) practices. Major changes from the last iteration of the bylaw include clarity on billing responsibility of property owners in relation to meter repairs and fixes,” said Riley Brolly, manager of financial planning, budgeting and reporting.

Additionally, he added the changes establish more clarity on utility bills being transferred to property tax roles for non-payments, as well as removal of references to the past practice of producing final notice letters and disconnection tags on non-payment of utility bills.

Coun. Melissa Langmaid raised that as of the Nov. 19 meeting, for those who opt to pay their utility bills on the last day of a given month, they are also prompted to pay the following month’s utility bill at the same time, with no way to separate the payments.

“I wanted to share it as an issue because I have been caught by it a number of times and I have been able to make it work in my budget, but for someone who is on a tight budget, it is not always viable to pay both of your utility bills on the same day and it can be a real crunch,” she said.

Regarding leakages within water systems, for any problems that occur before water reaches a resident’s or business’ meter, the town is held responsible. Beyond the meter, the respective resident or business still pays for the water. 

Should a meter itself be malfunctioning or leaking, it is the town’s responsibility to see repairs completed and bear responsibility for any lost water.

Regarding residents who are absent from their properties for prolonged periods, consumption charges represent only water that is utilized. 

Fixed charges cover the capital infrastructure of the system. CAO Kevin Scoble explained this is for the administration of the system which draws water from Calgary.

“We have a reservoir which we are upgrading right now at capital cost. We are decommissioning the Brentwood reservoir, which is a capital cost, and then there is all the distribution pipes from the reservoir. We all pay a share of that capital cost for that infrastructure whether you are using water or not,” he explained. 

Council voted to pass all three readings of the bylaw amendment during the Nov. 19 meeting, which required unanimous consent to hold third reading at the time.