Water and sewer fees will be going up a little in Quesnel in the New Year.
Quesnel City Council unanimously approved the first three readings of its comprehensive fees and charges bylaw at last night’s meeting.
Director of Finance Kari Bolton noted that water utility fees will be increased by 3.5 percent or $11.04 in 2026, and sewer utility fees will be increased by 3 percent, which amounts to $9.68 for the year.
She said that residential garbage fees are staying put.
“We’re just going to update the language to reflect the fact that the fees we collect for residential garbage fees cover not only the cost for the garbage collection but also the landfill fees at the landfill. So we’ve broken it down so people can see how much the cost is actually for the residential garbage collection, $69 for us to do that biweekly, and then the other 61 dollars is actually going towards the landfill fees, the cost of the landfill.”
Bolton said that some landfill fees will be going up.
“So for landfill fees last year we increased most of the rates by 10 dollars a metric tonne so this year we’re only doing a few minor adjustments to reflect the cost of the more time consuming waste categories, so that’s demolition , land-clearing and construction waste, we’re increasing it to $140 per tonne from $120 per tonne. This is also to encourage people to recycling more, to take a look at what they’re dumping at the landfill. And also animal carcasses increasing to $70 per tonne for commercial users from $60 per tonne.”
Cemetery rates are going up by 4.5% and airport fees will increase by 2%.
Bolton said that all of the changes are basically to keep up with inflation and any other cost changes affecting the city’s services, and to ensure that capital funds are available for needed projects.
