Part 1: Water Rate Increase, Delayed Long-Term Planning, and Committee Continuation – 05/21/2026
- PECConnect
- May 21
- 4 min read
The County’s Water and Wastewater Rates Community Committee met on May 21, 2026 to deal with a growing problem facing many municipalities right now. The County still needs to keep water and wastewater systems operating and funded, but several major long-term infrastructure and growth decisions are still unfinished.
Because of that uncertainty, the committee agreed to move ahead with a temporary one-year rate approach for 2027 instead of locking in a larger multi-year financial plan. The meeting focused heavily on balancing affordability, infrastructure planning, and what information is still missing before bigger financial decisions can be made.
View the entire PEC Council meeting, or continue to speaker comments and councillor votes>
The main discussion centered around a report from the Finance and IT Department regarding the proposed 2027 Water and Wastewater Rates Bylaw. Director Arryn McNichol explained that the County originally intended to bring forward a five-year rate plan this year, but staff decided to delay that work until 2027.
According to McNichol, several important pieces of information are still being worked on, including the County’s long-term infrastructure strategy, updated growth projections, asset management modeling, and a development charges study. Until those are finalized, staff felt it would be difficult to build an accurate long-term rate structure.
Instead, the committee reviewed a proposal for a one-year interim increase of 2.1 percent, based on Canada’s 2025 Consumer Price Index. McNichol said the increase would apply to both volumetric charges and flat rates, while leaving the rest of the bylaw structure unchanged until a more comprehensive review happens next year.
A large part of the conversation focused on whether the proposed increase actually reflects rising costs inside the system.
Committee member Bob Cooke repeatedly questioned whether the 2.1 percent increase accurately matched the County’s real operating and capital cost increases from the past year. McNichol explained that operating pressures may align more closely with CPI inflation, but capital costs are increasing much faster. He noted that Ontario’s non-residential building construction price index currently sits around 4.5 percent, which means infrastructure-related costs are rising at a significantly higher rate.
Cooke said his concern was not necessarily that the increase was too low, but whether residents could end up paying more than actual cost increases justified. McNichol responded that the current environment remains volatile and difficult to predict, especially with infrastructure construction costs continuing to fluctuate. Staff ultimately described the 2.1 percent figure as a conservative and balanced interim approach until more detailed financial modeling can be completed.
The meeting also revisited a recurring concern about infrastructure reserves and long-term financial preparedness.
Committee member Nick raised questions about revenue generated from infrastructure rentals, including antennas located on County infrastructure. He argued that additional revenue sources should help support future infrastructure replacement costs so that ratepayers are not left facing major bills later on. McNichol said staff did not have the exact figures available during the meeting but agreed to provide that information to the committee afterward.
After discussion, the committee voted in favour of recommending the interim 2027 bylaw to Council. The recommendation also directs staff to complete a full water and wastewater rate study, bylaw review, administrative review, and development charges background study in 2027 once Council provides direction on long-term servicing and growth projections.
Councillor Phil St-Jean said the interim approach made sense given the current level of uncertainty surrounding infrastructure conditions and future growth planning. He stated that it would be irresponsible to lock residents into a longer-term financial structure before the County has clearer information.
The second half of the meeting shifted into a broader conversation about the future of the committee itself.
Committee members had originally been presented with a recommendation to dissolve the Water and Wastewater Rates Community Committee because no further work was expected during the current Council term. That recommendation quickly turned into a larger discussion about unfinished business and whether another meeting was still necessary.
Cooke pointed out that earlier discussions about public communication strategies had never fully returned to the committee. He also raised concerns about long-term planning around Pete’s Point and questioned whether the committee should review its own effectiveness before wrapping up its work.
Councillor St-Jean agreed there were still unresolved items worth discussing, including possible future governance models such as a commission or municipal services corporation structure. Ray Ford also argued that the committee’s work should not simply disappear at the end of the current Council term, especially with major infrastructure reviews and asset management planning still underway.
Municipal Clerk Bob Waldon reminded members that any future committee structure would ultimately be decided by the next Council after the upcoming municipal election. However, he encouraged the group to prepare recommendations or summary notes that could help inform future committees or Council discussions.
In the end, the committee decided not to dissolve immediately. Instead, members agreed to hold one final meeting in July to revisit several unfinished topics, including communications planning, Pete’s Point discussions, governance structure ideas, and recommendations for future committees.
Key Takeaways
The County is moving ahead with a temporary 2.1 percent water and wastewater rate increase for 2027 while larger infrastructure planning continues.
Major long-term financial decisions about water and wastewater systems have been delayed until updated growth projections, servicing plans, and asset studies are completed next year.
The Water and Wastewater Rates Community Committee is staying active for now, with another meeting planned in July to deal with unfinished discussions about infrastructure planning, communication, and future oversight of the system.
Disclaimer: This article is based on a meeting with an approximate duration of 22:05. Due to the length of the meeting, our team was not able to independently review the full recording in its entirety. As a result, we relied on software-generated transcription, automated summarization, and automated recognition of speakers and participants, which may not be entirely accurate. All transcriptions, summaries, and related content are prepared by our team in good faith and on a reasonable best-efforts basis. The content is provided for general informational purposes only and is intended to support public understanding of the topics discussed. While reasonable efforts have been made to present the information accurately, automated processes may result in errors, omissions, or unintended misinterpretations. This article does not constitute an official, certified, or verbatim record of the meeting, and it should not be relied upon as such. Readers are encouraged to consult original source materials, official minutes, or recordings where available for confirmation or clarification. Questions, requests for clarification, or suggested corrections may be submitted to hello@pecconnect.ca for review and consideration.
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