Drumheller Town Council set its 2014 Utility Rate Bylaw before the year end.
Council held a special meeting on December 23, to approve the utility rate bylaw which calls for a five per cent increase. Three per cent goes toward recovering the total cost of the utility, while two per cent goes into a reserve to maintain the system.
“It is a self funding utility,” said Mayor Terry Yemen, adding that Drumheller has been progressive in making this a reality, while other communities have not taken the necessary steps to begin fully funding their water and wastewater utilities.
This means for a typical residential hook-up, the base charge goes from $11 to $11.55, and each cubic meter charge goes from $1.4008 to $1.4708. On the wastewater side, the base rate goes from $11.50 to $12.08 and the meter rate goes from $1.8500 to $1.9424 per cubic meter, based on 80 per cent consumption.
A household that uses 15 cubic metes of water a month would see the bill go from $65.77 to $68.80.
The rate comes in to effect on January 1, 2014.