Investing in reliable utility services
Earlier this year, City Council approved budgets for municipally-owned utilities, including water, wastewater, natural gas, and appliance rentals. These budgets are designed to maintain the safety, reliability, and affordability of your services, supporting daily operations, infrastructure upgrades, and long-term improvements, all while managing costs to keep rate increases as low as possible.
To better understand how these changes will affect you, learn more about our operating budget, upcoming rate adjustments, and planned capital projects.
Budget breakdown
For 2025, gross operating expenses are expected to increase by 8% or $3.5 million, bringing the total operating budget to $46.58 million. In 2026, the gross operating budget includes an increase of 5%, or $2.4 million, for a total budget of $49 million. These increases are largely driven by rising costs for supplies, maintenance, and the necessary investments to improve services.
To maintain reliable, high-quality service, these budgets will support:
- Digital tool investments to enhance customer service, improve efficiency, and keep up with technological advancements.
- A customer experience strategy designed to make our services more responsive and customer-focused.
- Upgrades to our maintenance and asset management systems for better long-term service reliability.
- Improvements in operations and project management systems to strengthen our delivery capabilities.
- Staffing adjustments to meet growing demand while improving internal and external communications.
- Efforts to balance labour cost increases with minimal impact on customer rates.
These investments are essential to ensuring reliable, high-quality service and providing a more efficient, improved experience for our customers.
Breakdown by utility
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Water and wastewater
The 2025 operating budget includes a 7.6% increase for wastewater and an 8.0% increase for water. In 2026, wastewater is budgeted for a 4.7% increase and water a 5.6% increase to support ongoing system needs.
2025 operating budget
- Water - $17,002,000
- Wastewater - $22,844,000
2026 operating budget
- Water - $17,946,000
- Wastewater - $23,911,000
This budget provides essential funding for contracted services, key supplies such as chemicals, tools, equipment, and parts, and the resources needed to maintain service levels for facilities and underground pipes. It also accounts for infrastructure growth, higher insurance costs, and increased sewer inspections. These investments ensure critical repairs, inspections, and leak detection efforts continue, keeping systems running smoothly and minimizing water loss.
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Natural Gas (excluding commodity costs)
The 2025 operating budget for the natural gas distribution business includes a 10.6% increase and a projected 7.1% increase in 2026 to support ongoing operations.
- 2025 - $5,842,000
- 2026 - $6,259,000
This budget reflects rising costs in parts, equipment, and supplier price increases. It also includes funding for enhanced asset management and maintenance programs aimed at extending the life of existing infrastructure. Investments in new technologies will further improve safety and reliability, while additional funding covers operator training, licensing, certification, and new vehicle and heavy equipment training.
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Appliance Rental Business
The operating budget for the appliance rental business includes an 8% increase in 2025 and a 1% decrease in 2026.
- 2025 - $892,000
- 2026 - $884,000
This budget reflects an updated focus on enhancing our marketing efforts, with new materials and advertising campaigns aimed at better connecting with residents and attracting new rentals. In 2026, we will continue to build on this momentum, maintaining these initiatives to sustain growth and meet customer needs.
Key investments
Along with approving our operating budget, Council has also approved the capital budgets for 2025-2026. These investments will help upgrade our water, wastewater, and natural gas utilities to ensure reliable services.
The plan is based on master plans, asset management, growth needs, and input from operators. It takes a risk-based approach to prioritize which systems need upgrades or replacements, ensuring that infrastructure can support growth and is renewed as needed based on age and condition.
For 2025 and 2026, Council approved capital budgets of $90.47 million and $77.62 million respectively.
2025 capital budgets
- Water: $33,752,000
- Wastewater: $47,594,000
- Natural Gas (excluding commodity charges): $7,616,000
- Appliance Rental Business: $1,505,000
2026 capital budgets
- Water: $39,625,000
- Wastewater: $28,696,000
- Natural Gas (excluding commodity charges): $7,617,000
- Appliance Rental Business: $1,685,000
These capital investments are key to maintaining high service standards while addressing growth and evolving needs. The capital budget will focus on:
- Replacing, upgrading, and expanding water distribution pipes and equipment to ensure safe drinking water and reliable fire protection services.
- Using innovative technology, such as CIPP lining, to extend the lifespan of wastewater treatment facilities, pumping stations, and sewer mains.
- Improving natural gas infrastructure by replacing aging steel pipes to maintain system safety and efficiency.
- Upgrading our metering systems, including implementing automated meter reading technology for more accurate and efficient service.
Learn more about capital projects in your neighbourhood
What this means for you
Rate adjustments are necessary to help maintain and improve essential services across all utilities, supporting infrastructure upgrades and system enhancements. These adjustments ensure we can cover the costs of maintaining and expanding our systems, while continuing to provide safe, reliable services in the future.
Looking ahead
We’re focused on building a sustainable future by aligning our operational needs and capital investments with our long-term goals. This proactive planning will ensure we continue to provide reliable, efficient services while supporting the community’s growth and evolving needs.