The City of Toronto is considering a 12 per cent hike in water rates, according to a newspaper report.
Just a few days after the city proposed a 9 per cent increase, the suggestion for an even steeper hike was floated to the city's budget committee on Wednesday, the Toronto Star reported.
The proposal was floated to the committee in a closed-door session at City Hall on Wednesday for which there was no public notice.
The city has given formal notice that it is considering a nine per cent hike in water rates this year and every year until 2012.
But at the Wednesday meeting, officials unveiled another plan that would see a 12 per cent hike this year, amounting to an extra $1 a month for a typical household.
That hike would be followed by 9 per cent increases in subsequent years.
The extra money could be used for projects in their early stage, the staff briefing note said.
According to the newspaper, those plans include:
- Odour control at the Ashbridge's Bay sewage treatment plant
- Speeding up plans to install automated water meters
- Enhancing storm water runoff controls in the Humber River Basin
The Star reports that a typical four-person household paid $429 for water in 2006, and will pay $469 in 2007 with a nine per cent increase.
That amounts to an extra $3.33 a month.
A 12 per cent increase would see the same household pay $480.48 a year, or an extra $1 more a month than under a 9 per cent hike.
