The City of Quinte West has approved the 2023 Water and Sewer budgets.
Council approved the 2023 Water and Sewer operating budget, the 2023 Water and Sewer Capital Budget, the 2023-2026 Water and Sewer Capital Fleet Budget and the 2023-2032 10 year Long-Term Capital Plan in principle. This includes recommendations from the 2021 Master Plan.
Details of each budget were outlined in a special council meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Outlined in the capital budget were projects planned for 2023.
This includes the following marked under “Linear Assets”:
- Relocating the trunk watermain that runs through private property from the Trenton Water Treatment Plant to Subway Road – $1.13 million
- A new trunk sanitary sewer from Fraser Park to County Road 40 – $15.77 million
- A new trunk watermain from 2nd Dug Hill Road to Tate Road – $6.15 million
- Upsizing the sanitary sewer at Wooler Road from Store Street to Davis Street – $1.5 million
- A reconstruction project involving water and sewer at Heber Street from Byron Street to Scott Street – $615,000 (contingent on the approval of the city’s capital budget)
- Up-sizing the sewer at March Street from Centre to South Trent Street – $280,000
- Watermain looping from Carrying Place Industrial Park to Dufferin Avenue – $1 million
The total estimated cost for all of these projects in 2023 is $21,166,000.
Matt Tracey, Manager Water and Wastewater Services, presenting Water and Wastewater Capital plan to council. March 1, 2023. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Other long-term projects as part of the 10-year capital plan were also outlined including the upsizing of the Trent Street Pump Station in 2026 and the start of upsizing the Riverside Parkway Pump Station in 2026.
Also outlined were other projects involving the Water and Sewer facilities in 2023 including the following:
- Water meter replacements – $750k
- Chlorine gas scrubbers in Frankford and Trenton – $550k
- Bayside Water Plant electrical and sedimentation tank equipment replacement – $600k
- Trenton Water Treatment Plan rebuild two more filters under-drains – $140k
- Backup generators for Louis Street and Sidney Street sewage pumping station –$150k
- Louis Street force-main relocation – $250k
- Batawa/Frankford sewer infiltration repairs – $200k
- Technical options review Trenton WWTP – $200k
- Trent St Sewage Pumping station generator replacement – $200k
- Frankford Water Treatment/Waste Water Treatment Plant generator replacement – $300k
- Bayside disinfection upgrades – $150k
- Trent St pump station and forcemain design upgrade – $1 million
- Cost sharing Woodland Heights – $1,296,000
- Add a wastewater pump at Water St due to development buildout – $151k
In order to help pay for the projects this year and for the future, the outstanding debt will grow by $27 million over the next four years.
The new debt is being used for growth-related projects that are Development Charge eligible.
For ratepayers, the water and wastewater bill is set to increase by 2.8% each year from 2023 to 2027.
That’s a decrease from the 5% increase each year from 2020 to 2022.
“Quinte West adopted a 10-year rate by-law from 2017 to 2027. At the beginning there were more drastic increases, around 5% to 10%, to increase the water rates to be able to pay for the capital plan,” Director of Finance for Quinte West, Caleb Denouden, told council. “So the last two years, there were 5% increases and the remaining (length of the by-law), the average increase is 2.8% a year.”
“We’ve kind of reached that point where rate increases have levelled off, and the projection until 2027 assuming the rate by-law does not get changed, would be an average increase of 2.8% per year to the average customer so that would increase from $130 a month right now $134 a month in 2023.”
The water and sewer budgets will not affect the current tax levy.
Quinte West City Council will continue to debate the rest of the budget at a special council meeting set for March 22.
