Property owners in Southeast Kelowna shouldn’t be surprised they’re getting water bills of $6,500, city officials say.
But they acknowledge the demands for payment sent out this week to almost 2,000 households could have worded differently and provided more explanation of the reasons for what appears to be surprisingly high charges.
“We probably could have communicated this a bit better,” city utility services manager Kevin Van Vliet said Friday in an interview.
But, in fact, water charges are really rising less than $15 a year over what Southeast Kelowna property owners had been paying, Van Vliet says.
The letter to 1,950 property owners says the city is “pleased to advise property owners” that integration of the former Southeast Kelowna Irrigation District into the municipally-run system is complete.
Then there’s an eye-popping request for property owners to either pay $6,500 immediately or agree to have their annual tax bill increased by just under $500 for each of the next 18 years.
“I wasn’t expecting this, were you?” one area resident wrote on a Facebook page for Southeast Kelowna residents.
“Holy crap! If I get something like this I’m going to cry,” wrote another.
The city took over the SEKID system, which had been plagued by various operational problems for years, in a move endorsed by affected property owners, in 2017.
Integrating the two systems was costly and complex, involving among other things the laying of 82 kilometers of new pipes, construction of three new reservoirs, and the upgrading of three pumping stations.
Total project cost was close to $100 million, with federal and provincial grants covering much of the expense. But property owners were always expected to pay a portion of the construction costs, approximately $15 million, Van Vliet says, and that message was consistently communicated to them.
A project-related monthly charge of $40 had been paid by former SEKID customers since 2018 and has so far raised $3 million.
But that charge came off their bills in January. The new bill for $6,500, or annual payments of $493 for the next 18 years, represents the outstanding balance of $16 million still owed by property owners for the water system integration.
“It’s really sort of a wash,” Van Vliet said. “Residents had been paying that water quality improvement fee of $40 a month, or $480 a year, but that’s gone away now and they have the option of paying $492 a year for the next 18 years.”
Of course, the better financial option for those property owners who can afford to do so is to pay the entire $6,500 bill now, because the option to add the charge to annual property taxes would result in a total payment of almost $9,000.
