Former SEKID and SOMID to pay more for water integration in 2021

Photo: City of Kelowna

The cost to homeowners within the former SEKID and SOMID water utility will be going up in 2021 to fund the nearly $100 million water integration project.

City council has approved an increase in the monthly project fee from $32 to $40.

That could change again by the end of 2022 once the entire cost of the project is known. However, city infrastructure director Alan Newcombe says he believes the $40 monthly charge will be very close to the final fee those residents will pay.

The fee is being collected to repay money borrowed from the water utility reserve to pay for the city's portion of the water integration project.

Those funds are being paid back over 20 years.

Mayor Colin Basran told council he believes the additional project fee should have been closer to $40 all along.

"The $32 fee was implemented by the former SEKID board with, I would say, not as much consultation as we would have liked,' the mayor stated.

"And, had that happened, it wouldn't have been $32. I would have been higher, which is where it should have been in the first place."

Residents were informed of the likelihood of an increase in the project fee when it was first implemented two years ago, however, councillors believed those affected residents should be notified again and reminded that increase is coming.

Newcombe says the total value of the project now sits at $98 million after the city received an additional $12 million grant from the province to initiate Phase 2 work, including including transmission main and reservoir expansions.

That work is expected to begin in the spring of 2021.

Newcombe says other phase 2 work, including the Westpoint transmission main and the KVR reservoir upgrades are underway, and should be complete by the spring.