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New policy offers relief for high water bills

Turner Valley property owners can get some relief on unusually high water bills if council approves a new policy, but it will cost them. In a 4-2 vote at its Oct.
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Turner Valley town council approved a new water and wastewater billing policy that allows residents to request an adjustment to unusually high bills.

Turner Valley property owners can get some relief on unusually high water bills if council approves a new policy, but it will cost them. In a 4-2 vote at its Oct. 1 meeting, Turner Valley town council approved a water and sewer billing adjustment policy that could cost taxpayers requesting forgiveness on abnormally-high bills up to $305. Council had requested administration develop a framework for adjusting unusually-high water or wastewater utility bills under certain criteria after it received a request from a resident in May to forgive an exceptionally high bill. The policy states the bill must exceed three times the property owner’s average monthly usage in a 12-month period. Partial forgiveness will be considered if there’s an unpredictable leak in the owner’s water system, which they’ve adequately repaired, or if there’s a malfunction in the automated water meter. While council supported the policy guidelines, some councillors expressed concerns with the $105 non-refundable water and sewer billing adjustment fee and $200 accuracy testing fee. If the meter is determined not accurate, the $200 will be refunded, the policy states. “I really have trouble with this,” said Coun. Garry Raab. “It’s very well done and speaks to everything, but I don’t like the fact that we have to charge money for them to find out about their meter. It’s going to cost another $305.” Raab said he’s concerned most taxpayers won’t bother having their water meter checked. “Most people will say, ‘I will just eat it because it may or may not mean anything,’” he said. “I wouldn’t want to pay $305 to investigate it. “I understand you don’t want to do this for everybody, but to me it’s just too expensive to pay an administrative fee of $305 for a $400 water bill that’s normally $150.” Chief administrative officer Todd Sharpe said the fees operate as cost recovery for what the Town would have to pay to investigate the issue. The $105 fee covers administration fees, said Sharpe, while the $200 covers the cost of a contractor to remove the meter and conduct a calibration test. “We think it’s a fair way to treat those exceptions to the rule, not the expectation, and to provide residents relief for the utility bill where needed,” Sharpe said. When asked by Coun. Jonathan Gordon why the policy states the bill must exceed the monthly average usage by three times, Sharpe replied the value was chosen to accommodate any sort of unusual water consumption that might be attributable to the resident and not a leak. “We thought anything over that three times was a fair amount to give consideration to,” he said. Coun. Lana Hamilton said she supports the fees because they’re cost recovery. “I don’t think we can be completing work on these bills and expecting the rest of the town to cover the costs,” she said. “I think the cost should be recovered from the person putting in the complaint. We can’t expect everyone else to cover the cost of the complaint.”

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