City of Victoria Special Council Meeting Today

At a special council meeting today the City of Victoria council raised utility rates for

• Garbage and Recycling (3.9%)
• Sewers (10%)
• Water (9%)

All of these are well above the rate of inflation.

This was done without any notice to the public that it was coming.  There was no discussion that I can see by the previous council that they intended to raise the rates this much.   The City of Victoria has Financial Sustainability Policy that calls for a two month notice before raising any fees - see section 9.

These fee increases are supposed to take effect on January 1st.

It seems to me someone screwed up in not getting this passed in October.   I assume one of the staff is in trouble for making a mistake.

I also have to wonder why the sewer and water rates are rising four times the rate of inflation.

In our household this will be a total increase in costs of about $80 a year.   It is not a huge amount, but it is once again an increase from the City of Victoria that is much higher than the rate of inflation.   The City seems to be hell bent on taxing the crap out of residential and commercial property owners.   I would like to see a couple of years of increases below the rate of inflation to balance out the last few years.