Meadow Lake city council agrees communication is key when it comes to explaining to residents why water and sewer rates are set to increase yet again. During council’s regular meeting held Sept. 8, an amendment was made to the city’s water and sewer bylaw. This means, the quarterly water rates for 2026 will include a $112.22 base charge along with $3.11 consumption charge per cubic metre. Meanwhile, the quarterly sewer rates for 2026 will include a $74.81 base charge (full), a $54.81 base charge (light) and a $1.24 consumption rate per cubic metre, while the base infrastructure levy for 2026 will be $25. The bylaw was moved by councillor Conrad Read and seconded by councillor Mauri Young.
“In 2015, council began a rate restructuring process on the city’s utility bills to move toward a system of cost recovery and to charge for full consumption (user pay),” explained Asma Qadri, the city’s director of finance, in her official recommendation to council. “Council’s direction at the time was annual increases would continue to be made to the utility rates until the utility is completely self-funded rather than being subsidized through tax dollars.” Council reviewed the rate increases originally adopted in 2019, and then paused increases in 2020 due to the pandemic. The cost recovery plan resumed with the 2025 increase approved in 2024. “Consumption increase is proposed for eight per cent and base rate at five per cent,” Qadri continued. “With the proposed increases, we were estimated to be on track to reach cost recovery by 2026. However, the Flying Dust First Nation water plant is still expected to become operational as of Jan. 1, 2026. In addition, SaskWater water rates are to be renegotiated from 2027 onward. On the assumption SaskWater rates will increase at a nominal rate of two per cent per annum, the result from the loss of revenue and increase in expenses will affect the cost recovery period. It is now estimated we shall reach cost recovery by 2029.”
The flat rate infrastructure fee introduced in 2023 is to be paid once per quarter. Qadri said this amount may increase on an annual basis as with the other rates. “This rate will specifically be put toward the annual cost to replace and upgrade water and sewer infrastructure,” she added. “The proposed rate increases in this bylaw amendment are being included as part of the 2026 operating budget that will be brought forward to council in November. Any changes to the proposed rates will affect the proposed 2026 budget.” Much of Qadri’s input was echoed by mayor Merlin Seymour. “Quite a few years ago we did make a City of Meadow Lake public works employees address a water and sewer issue in front of a 4th Avenue West home Tuesday morning (Sept. 16). Recently, city council approved a water and sewer rate increase. conscious effort – rather than have city taxpayers’ dollars subsidizing water rates throughout the city – to get to a break even where it became self-sufficient,” he said. “It wouldn’t be making money, but not be subsidized by taxpayers… This is a carry forward or a carry on in our effort to get to that zero cost.”
Although councillor Marty Bishop said he understands the city’s approach, he stressed how important it is to be able to convey to the public why these yearly increases are happening. “What you’re doing here is right, but how do we properly convey that to people?” he stated. “I don’t get a lot of complaints about what a person’s water bill is, but I do get them about the rate increases and why they’re happening.” Read, meanwhile, said, when this plan was originally introduced, residents were encouraged to be more conscious of their water usage and to conserve water however possible. “It would be, ‘OK, I’m not going to water my garden every day and instead I’m going to water it every second day, I’m going to buy an energy efficient toilet, I’m going to wash my dishes by hand rather than in the dishwasher,’ stuff like that,” Read said. “It was to become a user pay system. In the past, it would be a guy who used 20 cubic metres a month opposed to a guy who used 100 cubic metres per month… Basically the tax dollars they paid would be subsidizing the guy who used more water because he wasn’t paying what it actually cost to produce it.”
Councillor Connie Marsh-Yuhasz asked for confirmation the increases would stop by 2029. “It should be breaking even by then unless we renegotiate with SaskWater and they tell us their cost for chemicals or whatever it may be has gone up,” Read said. “There may be some increases. But, if we pay SaskWater $2 million, we should be getting $2 million back into our system so it breaks even. That was the concept when we started this.” Seymour agreed. “At the end of 2029, will the cost of water go up?” he said. “Chances are it might go up a little bit just because, as Conrad mentioned, chemical costs may increase. Our cost to SaskWater in order to produce the water to get to the residents would be higher. I’m not saying there would be an increase, but there is a possibility so we can maintain that break even point.”
Bishop, however, reiterated how essential it is to educate the public on the city’s plan. “I know what we’re trying to do here, but the person out there who is writing the cheque for the water bill that’s going up every year, they’re getting pissed off,” he said. “And me, Conrad, you Mr. Mayor, all of us are the ones who have to answer to these people, and that’s why you have to have something in place people can understand. Something that shows them we’re raising it so much every year, but, in 2029, our percentage of increase should go down… That’s how I want to sell this to people. People don’t understand why, but when they talk to us about it we need to be able to convey it to them in a language they understand.”
Seymour said water isn’t the only thing that rises in price as time goes on. “If you want to get into a peeing match, I will use a jug of milk as an example,” he said. “Five years ago, a jug of milk cost about $2.39. How much is it now? It’s about $6. How much is it going to be five years from now? Who knows?” Bishop said comparing water rates to the price of milk isn’t exactly comparing apples to apples. “It actually is because your cost for producing that milk is more now than it was then,” Seymour replied. “As long as people know what the plan is and know we’re not just throwing in increases… we’re trying to make it even for everyone.”