Barrie residential renters could have their water, sewer bills turned toward their landlords.
Councillors approved a motion Monday night that the practice of permitting property owners to redirect a property’s water and wastewater (sewer) bill to a residential tenant be discontinued, effective Nov. 1, 2022.
Water accounts directed to residential tenants as of Oct. 31, 2022 would be grandfathered, so the bills would continue to be issued to the tenant(s) until Oct. 31, 2023, or such time as the existing tenant(s) vacates the property, whichever is earlier.
“As a tenant… I would much prefer having the landlord deal with water billing and have that inclusive in their rent,” said Coun. Keenan Aylwin. “It provides more stability. I think it’s more efficient for the city, more efficient for usage of water, because it could actually encourage landlords to save more water.”
“The finding was basically one property, one account,” said city treasurer Craig Millar. “If you eliminate multiple accounts, where you have to open and close (accounts as tenants change), you have one account for one property and a lot of the inefficiencies go away.”
As of Dec. 31, 2021, residential tenant water/wastewater billing arrears totalled $323,000, while the city incurred a net cost of $314,000 to administer the tenant water billing program on behalf of private property owners.
As additional fees are not charged to private property owners to manage their tenants’ water bills, with the exception of the administration fee associated with balances transferred to the tax roll, the general tax base is subsidizing this program.
City staff determined the estimated net cost of administering this program in 2021 totalled $314,069. The residential tenant accounts make up only 12 per cent of the total number of Barrie water accounts.
The motion to discontinue direct water/sewer bills to renters will be considered for final approval at city council’s June 6 meeting.
Coun. Mike McCann, however, said there was a better way.
He said the proposed recommendation could be altered by implementing a fee charged to property owners to cover the costs of administering the tenant-held water accounts. Using 2021 costs and 5,433 tenant accounts at the end of the year, this would necessitate a fee of approximately $60 per account to cover costs.
“I think this is better for people who rent homes,” McCann said, noting if landlords take all the responsibility for water bills, “they’re alternatively going to charge more for rent. That’s just how business works.”
City staff did not recommend it, noting there are no full-time staff dedicated to the tenant water billing program. It’s estimated that during the year, a total of 4.69 full-time equivalent staff time positions are being used for this program - a significant amount of resources required to collect a small portion of outstanding water receivables.
While an additional charge of $60 applied to 5,000 tenant water accounts would generate $300,000 to help offset existing costs, more resources of money and people are required to manage this program.
There was little support for McCann’s plan.
“Our staff have clearly recommended that this not be the course of action,” Aylwin said.
