Vernon sewer fees increasing over next five years

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“What this means for the average household, in regards to annual increases, is [an additional] $20 to $60,” Ovens explained.

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“Twenty dollars probably being more of the majority of users, $60 being more of an outlier. Some of those rates are for residents living outside the city  boundaries and stuff like that, they would land in the $60 range while the majority are around $20.”

Vernon City Council gave first, second and third readings to the bylaw amendment that would increase the fees at the meeting Tuesday. Dawn Tucker was the sole councillor to vote against the motion claiming the costs could be recovered elsewhere such as by amending the sewer connection charges and find ways to bring more people onto the system instead of increasing the rates. Ovens agreed that connecting more properties to the system would increase revenues but stated that was not something he investigated during his task of amending the sewer fees and charges bylaw.

Following the meeting Mayor Kari Gares told Vernon Matters this funding was important to obtain.

“One thing you don’t want to have is an increasing deficit on your infrastructure renewal, so this is a way for us to kind of shrink the gap and hopefully shrink the gap in a smaller period of time as opposed to just letting it continue to increase year over year,” Gares stated.

“If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the past it’s invest appropriately into your infrastructure.”

The amended Sewer User Fees Bylaw will be brought forward for adoption at a later meeting.