Recommended swage rate hike in Winnipeg for 2025 to be brought to council

Potential sewage rate increases were on the table Monday during a standing policy committee meeting that saw discussions surrounding capital funding for Phase three of the North End sewage treatment plant.

“We really have no choice. This is about the future of the lake, the future of expansion and growth,” said Ross Eadie, a committee chair.

“We approved an initial part for project three for $10.895 million so that they could move ahead with the procurement process because they gotta start early to go to the market and find out whose going to construct project three?”

An additional $1.46 billion will be deferred to the 2026 budget while the City looks into funding help from other levels of government. 

The rate hike to fund the $10.9 million this year, set to kick in on April 1st would mean an estimated $224 dollar increase this year for a family of four, 37 per cent higher than last year’s rates.

“I did not support the budget because there was no line of sight on this increase,” said Sherri Rollins, a City councillor.

Rollins was the only one opposed to the recommendation, citing a lack of transparency, as the rate hikes were not included in this year’s preliminary budget talks.

“They can choose to open it and provide a line of sight in the budget for all Winnipeggers to decide whether it’s their pocketbooks that the 10 million should come from, or if council should figure out something else to ease their financial pain. And that was a choice, and it was not made,” said Rollins.

Eadie says, “We had a big boom in housing from 2003, Waverly West was expanding like crazy and there was lots of capability of dealing with the kind of money that we’re talking about, but nobody dealt with it because oh there’s always: ‘It’s not a good time, it’s not a good time.’ It is time that we build this plant.”

The recommended rate hikes will now move to city council for approval.