Water and sewer rates in Owen Sound are poised to jump by 9 per cent next month.
Owen Sound city council will be reviewing a recommendation from the Financial services director, at it’s meeting next monday.
Wayne Ritchie is recommending the 9 percent hike in rates, the biggest in five years, as the city upgrades its’ water and sewage treatment facilities.
If the rate increase is approved, Ritchie says it will take effect May 1st.
Owen Sound has 4 million dollars on sewage treatment plant upgrades in the last two years, and will pay up to 15 million dollars when a secondary level sewage treatment plant is added.
That project is set to start in 2013.
The Financial services director says it is too soon to say how much rates will go up based on that project.
At the same time, Ritchie says several upgrades have been done to the water system in Owen Sound with more than 10 million dollars worth of work planned for the next 5 years.