Kitchener council passes 2015 budget, including tax increase

After a marathon meeting Monday night, Kitchener city council has passed the2015 budget, which inincludes a 1.9 per cent property tax increase and a 9.9 per cent hike to city water rates.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic says the hike in water rates will help the city recover the cost of aging pipes,many of which are at the end of their lifespan.

"In the past we've made some decisions in the benefit of the taxpayer but those decisions actually have created some infrastructure challenges for us today," said Vrbanovic.

Council voted 8-3 in favour of the increase.

The 9.9 per cent hike to water and sanitary sewer rates joins a 3 per cent hike to stormwater rates, overall adding $96 to the average Kitchener homeowner's tax bill.

Property taxes are going up too, by 1.9 per cent or an extra $19.59 for the average Kitchener homeowner.

Even then, according to a release from the city, the increases are necessary just to maintain current service levels andwill cover only about half of what the city needs to spend to deal with infrastructure repairs and replacement.

"Our rates are still highly competitive with other communities across the country and we're making decisions today so that we're not putting an undue burden on future generations," said Vrbanovic.

According to a release by the city, Kitchener still has one ofthe lowest combined tax and utility rates out of the 25 largest cities in Ontario, and the lowest combined rateinWaterloo Region.

Not all councillors were happy about the increase.

"Yes people can conserve their water but the storm water rate, everybody pays for that, taxes, everybody pays for that. That is significant dollars," said Yvonne Fernandes.

The newwater rates take effect April 1.