On February 3, 2015, the council of the City of Kingston approved the 2015 operating budget and four-year capital budgets for its municipally-owned utilities, which include the water, wastewater and gas utilities and an appliance rental business. In addition, council approved the four-year rate schedules for the water and wastewater utilities.

Impact on Residential Bills

• Water and wastewater:  the average monthly water/wastewater residential bill will increase by 2.6 per cent or $2.20 in both 2015 and 2016; by 2.2 per cent or $1.95 in 2017; and by 2.2 per cent or $1.97 in 2018 (all based on 16.67 cubic metres monthly usage). Utilities Kingston provides water and wastewater services to more than 37,000 homes and businesses city wide.
• Gas: the 3.5 per cent increase in the portion of the natural gas bill that represents local distribution costs means that the average residential customer will see a $1.27 increase on their monthly gas bill, effective on March 1, 2015. Utilities Kingston provides gas services to approximately 14,000 homes and businesses in central Kingston.

2015 Operating Budget

For 2015, council approved a total operating budget of $32 million, up from $30 million in 2014. This budget includes $13,213,000 for water, $14,424,000 for wastewater, $4,293,000 for gas (excluding commodity charges) and $534,000 for the appliance rental business.

A 2.5 per cent increase in operating expenses is reflective of general inflationary increases, with the remainder of the increase attributable to specific one-time cost increases including costs related to master plans for the water and wastewater utilities, as well as an increase in expenditures to encourage and support conservation initiatives.

2015-2018 Capital Budget

Council also approved the four-year municipal utility capital budgets  – the budget for infrastructure construction projects – as follows:

• Water: $44,970,250
• Wastewater: $150,635,000
• Gas: $17,282,560
• Appliance rental business: $2,470,000
• Total: $215,357,810

The largest planned project is the upgrade and expansion of treatment capacity at the Cataraqui Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant to ensure continued reliability and accommodate growth.

Rate Schedules

In accordance with proposed rate schedules, council approved:

• Rate changes for the water and wastewater utilities for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
• An adjustment to natural gas local distribution rates for 2015.
• Rate changes for the 2015 miscellaneous charges for water, sewer, and gas utilities and the appliance rental business.

Contact

For further information, contact Randy Murphy, Chief Financial Officer for Utilities Kingston at rmurphy@utilitieskingston.com or 613-546-1181, extension 2317.