FAQs: Water Rate Structure Review

As many residents may have heard, the City is reviewing the water, wastewater, and stormwater rate structures applied to residents and businesses. Though many of the changes being investigated by the City are focused on urban Ottawa, the City is investigating changes that will also impact rural residents, particularly with respect to stormwater rates. 

This FAQ is focused on providing a bit of context on the proposed changes to the stormwater fee.  

Please note that no changes have been approved at this time. City staff are consulting the public on the direction that they are interested in pursuing so that they can provide Council with a recommended path forward in 2025.  

What is the City looking to do? 
The City is seeking to review water, wastewater, fire supply, and stormwater rates. Staff are aiming to conduct this review in a way that ensures fairness in how residents are charged by aligning the benefits that residents receive with the rates that they are charged. The City is also looking to encourage residents to use less water and to have less “impervious space” on their properties.  

The biggest changes being proposed for rural Ottawa would be that City staff are looking to expand the stormwater charge to all properties, including agricultural properties. Additionally, the City intends to move from a flat rate for stormwater charges toward a charge that is based on the amount of impervious surface on a property – that is, the amount of the property that is covered by buildings, patios, decks, driveways, and other kinds of hard surfaces that water cannot penetrate easily.  

What is David’s view on the proposed changes? 
I will say it clearly right off the top: I am opposed to what the City appears to be proposing, just as I remain opposed to the stormwater charge that was levied on property owners in rural Ottawa back in 2017.  

The “ditch tax” that already exists is unfair. Despite the City levying the charge, the City does very little to actually assist with the maintenance of rural ditches. The costs on residents do not result in services being received. The City appears to be looking at new changes that would increase this level of unfairness for rural Ottawa by increasing costs while still doing nothing to improve services for our communities. 

Moreover, I am very concerned that properties who pay into municipal drains and have established drainage rights that already manage stormwater will be asked by the City to pay for impervious portions of their properties. In its pursuit of extracting ever increasing taxes and revenues from residents, the City is imposing what can best be described as a solution in search of a problem. It is a tax grab, pure and simple.  

I am opposed to the direction that the City appears to be going in and will continue to advocate for a return to the old billing system, where only those connected to sewer systems are expected to pay the stormwater charge and residents who maintain their own ditches are not saddled with these charges.  

Why is the City reviewing the rate structure? 
The City is reviewing how it recovers costs to deliver various water services because, in the view of staff, there is a more fair way to calculate rates.  

For instance, with stormwater fees, impervious data was not available when the current rate structure was approved, which meant that rather than charging the fee based on how much stormwater runoff property owners were putting onto roads and ditches, the fee was based on property assessments in order to recover costs for the stormwater management program.  

When the data became available, the previous term of Council directed staff to develop stormwater rate structure options for consideration, that considers impervious area as the basis for stormwater fee calculation. 

What is “impervious space”? How is it calculated? 
Impervious space refers to the total paved or other hard surface area of a property, like building and structure rooftops, which are considered highly resistant to the infiltration of water. A higher amount of impervious space can lead to challenges with managing stormwater. This is more of an issue in urban Ottawa, where there are large amounts of impervious spaces, but nonetheless City staff are looking to impose a stormwater rate structure throughout Ottawa, including the rural areas where in most cases, there are very few issues resulting from impervious spaces.  

More information is available here.  

Are City staff proposing an increased stormwater fee for rural properties? 
Though staff are not presently proposing an outright increase in fees for all rural property owners, the changes to the fee structure calculation that staff are looking to implement would likely result in fee increases for many property owners.  

For instance, in the Guiding Principles that the City has outlined for their rate review, they specifically mention including all property classes in the stormwater fee. This would include farm properties, businesses, managed forests, and more.  

Additionally, as the fee will be based on impervious surfaces, residents with large driveways, patios, or multiple buildings on their property are likely to see increases in fees.  

*No changes to the current rate have been approved at this time.*

What stage in the process is the City at? 
The City is currently consulting on the proposed direction for the changes. Based on the feedback received, the City will develop a proposed rate structure in early 2025. Council is expected to vote on the proposed changes sometime in the summer of 2025.  

How can I provide my feedback? 
It is vital that residents provide their feedback to City staff about their views on the proposed changes. You can do this by attending the consultation meeting in Richmond on May 9th or by going to engage.ottawa.ca/rates to provide feedback. You can also email your thoughts to waterrates@ottawa.ca.