The warning came ahead of time, but it still doesn’t make it an easy pill to swallow, especially with a 10% increase in property tax.

The average Cochrane household can expect to pay an extra $6.80 a month in utility costs, or $81.60 a year, starting this month.

“This increase was included in the 2022 operating budget, which was adopted by the board in December 2021,” Cochrane executive director of corporate services Katherine Van Keimpema said in a statement.

“We have delayed implementing the increase to give residents the opportunity to understand and prepare for the cost increase before it appears on their utility bill.”

Warnings also appeared on residents’ January and February utility bills.

During the November budget talks, Van Keimpema pointed to runaway increases in utility costs. Calgary sewage costs increased by $390,000, city water contract by $85,000, water line repairs by $300,000, water chemicals by 41,000 $, waste collection and recycling carts $85,000 and household hazardous waste management $25,000.

“A lot of it is about growth, but also about price increases,” Van Keimpema said during a Nov. 15 meeting. “It all adds up and puts pressure on our utility department.”

Additionally, the city has agreed to take over drainage management of the Highway 1A stormwater system as part of an agreement with Alberta Transportation so they can proceed with roadway improvements. It should cost $62,000 more.

The city also introduced new utility programs in the budget that include a rate review, which is expected to cost $70,000 in 2022, a CCTV inspection program costing $500,000 each year from 2022-24, and replacements of valves that will cost $400,000 each year.

Residents will also notice that user charges rather than fixed charges have been introduced to encourage water conservation.

According to the municipality, an average dwelling uses no more than 15 cubic meters of water per month.

Between rising taxes, the cost of fuel and groceries, many Cochranites are already feeling the pinch and 2021 City Council candidate Brandon Cruze said it’s time for changes to ease the pain. unnecessary pressure on taxpayers.

“Council really needs to start looking at things that generate revenue outside of taxes,” said Cruze, whose platform was based on generating other municipal revenue streams.

“The way things are going, everything’s gonna keep going up and up and up and the only place to get [the money] to pay for everything, it’s either the taxpayer or someone else.

To offset utility costs, Cruze suggests that one solution could be to introduce a mandatory municipal hotel tax or destination marketing tax (DMF) to be paid by visitors and tourists who stay overnight in hotels in Cochrane.

The Town of Cochrane already has a voluntary 3% DMF that hotels can accept or decline.

The Super 8 is currently the only hotel in town to apply the fee. Days Inn used to implement it, as did the Ramada, before it closed after catching fire in February.

At 3%, a current $120 stay at the Super 8 generates $3.60 to reinvest in Cochrane’s tourism and visitor economy.

Cruze argues that the money should be up to local taxpayers to decide where to allocate. While he understands that a mandatory implementation of fees may not immediately relieve all tax pressures, he thinks it could make a substantial difference for long-term residents.

“There are many ways to use this income,” he said. “And ultimately it should be up to the residents to decide how they are used. I am sure, however, that residents would agree that cutting some of the money from their monthly bills would be a welcome direction for the council.”

In British Columbia, the province has what is called a municipal and regional district tax; similar to a DMF, except that it is a mandatory fee collected from hotels.

In Kelowna, the three per cent it collects goes to the provincial government for its BC-wide tourism events program, but 2.8 per cent of that is returned to the city for the marketing of destination or affordable housing initiatives.

Cochrane Tourism executive director Jo-Anne Oucharek said the voluntary nature of Alberta’s fees makes it difficult for marketing organizations to promote locations, like Cochrane, because funding is never certain.

However, she said, it remains a key component to developing income without growth in the community.

“When a visitor comes to Cochrane and let’s say they spend $100 at a gas station, even though it’s not necessarily a tourism business like a hotel or a restaurant, that money spent is actually multiplied by 15 in the community,” Oucharek said.

“The gas station pays its employees and those employees pay for their groceries, and then those grocery store employees might need to see a dentist or a lawyer, etc.”

There are other examples of how the city could consider supporting taxpayers, she said.

Similar to what the City of Kamloops has done, the city could introduce a tax for Airbnb and private vacation rentals to target affordable housing, or perhaps utility fees, specifically.

“We are the fastest growing community [in Alberta] and that comes with a lot of challenges,” Oucharek said.

“It comes down to what the Town of Cochrane wants to do as a municipal government. Everything goes up; groceries, gas. So how do you help your community?”

For more information, visit cochrane.ca/utility-rates.