Fort Erie councillors approve 4.98 per cent water budget increase

As they approved the water and wastewater budget for 2026, Fort Erie councillors took aim at their regional counterparts on Wednesday for forcing a challenging budget upon the lower tier municipality.

The budget councillors approved was reduced from the 5.98 per cent total increase staff proposed to a 4.98 per cent increase. To achieve the one per cent reduction, councillors passed an amendment from Councillor Tom Lewis to have staff take money out of one of the rate stabilization reserves the municipality keeps.

Treasurer Jonathan Janzen said it would likely amount to around $260,000.

“They (rate stabilization reserves) are there for a reason, and as the mayor mentioned, I think that reason might be for today,” said Lewis.

The Town did something similar in 2023, and while Janzen cautioned against drawing too much from the reserves–considering they can’t predict what will happen in the coming years–councillors seemed comfortable that the reserve funds could handle it.

Mayor Wayne Redekop said projections discussed during capital budget deliberations had the sewer reserve hitting $3.5 million at the end of 2026, and the water reserve somewhere in the neighbourhood of $1.2 million. 

The resulting approved budget will see the average household that uses 16 cubic metres of water a month pay $7.66 more, or $92 more a year. Had councillors approved the budget proposed by staff, the increases would have been $9.20 a month or $110 a year.

In total, the average household’s water and wastewater bill in 2026 will be $1,937, up from $1,845 in 2025.

Several councillors took turns expressing their frustration with increases at the regional level. With regional treatment costs making up about 60 per cent of the town’s water/wastewater budget, the expected 9.42 per cent combined increase will make up the bulk of the increase at the local level.

Under the original staff proposed budget, about 79 per cent of the increase was attributed to regional increases.

“It’s just very frustrating to look at decisions that have been made by other levels of government, not necessarily with Fort Erie’s interest in mind, that we have to essentially deal with, and residents in this municipality have to pay for,” said Councillor Nick Dubanow.

Councillor George McDermott said ongoing increases on everything from water bills to huge increases to the police budget are putting the squeeze on many residents.

“It doesn’t really affect people of means, it affects people who don’t have (means),” he said. “I can’t put a happy face on a nine per cent increase on anything.”

Redekop, who’s chair of the regional budget review committee, said Fort Erie has a long history of putting more money than their counterparts into infrastructure, including both levy supported and rate supported infrastructure.

“We frequently hear from residents about our water and wastewater bill. Part of the reason that it’s higher is because we’re putting more money into our infrastructure so that we’ll eventually have a much more reliable infrastructure,” he said.

“Fort Erie has now, at least since 2012, been allocating a set portion of the increase, either in the levy or in our water and wastewater rates, to our infrastructure. Had the Region done this since 2012, or heaven forbid since 1970, they wouldn’t be in the predicament they are now.”

Regional water and wastewater budget discussions were expected to continue on December 4, but Janzen said the Town planned to use any potential decrease to further offset its infrastructure gap. Staff had proposed a roughly three per cent contribution to closing the infrastructure gap.

Fort Erie does face other unique challenges when it comes to water delivery. A large geographic area with communities spread out means a lot of kilometres of pipe with relatively few users. As the town grows, more connections should help defray the costs. 

Budget deliberations at the Town will now take a holiday break, resuming January 28 with the operating budget.

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