TERRACE BAY — The water is rising in Terrace Bay – at least in terms of cost, that is.
At their regular council meeting on Jan. 15, Terrace Bay’s town council voted in favour of raising rates for residential and industrial water usage.
Based on the proposed increase, the cost of water will raise by about three per cent.
In terms of how this shakes out for the average resident, people should expect to see around $25 more added to their annual water bill – or about $6 per quarterly bill.
This is the first time that town council has voted in favour of raising water rates since 2022.
With these new water rates approved, an estimated $30,000 in revenue is expected to be generated for the municipality.
Coun. Rick St. Louis referred to the increase as a “necessary evil.”
Mayor Paul Malashewski countered that it might be a good idea to hold-off on approving the rate increases until things become clearer in regards to the idling of the Terrace Bay AV mill.
However, the rest of council echoed St. Louis’ sentiment that it’s better to approve the increase now so that the municipality has that money for the water/wastewater reserve fund.
Treasurer/deputy clerk, Danny Mulligan, also pointed out that similar decisions in the past – to wait or not approve rate increases – resulted in much larger cost hikes that led to residents paying exponentially more.
St. Louis concurred with Mulligan’s assessment.
“Going back a lot of years, we were lax for awhile. I’m not so sure I want to hold off on it only because I don’t see what we get out of holding off on it. We need to put this money away no matter what,” St. Louis said.