It’s expected to cost about $732 million to maintain, repair and upgrade Oakville’s storm sewer pipes, culverts, creeks, shorelines, ponds, ditches and harbours over the next 30 years.
To fund that work, the town is looking to charge all Oakville property owners a new stormwater fee.
But the size of your bill will reflect how much runoff – rain and melted snow – that flows over the hard surfaces on your property and into the town’s stormwater infrastructure.
Details of the town’s proposed plan were outlined in a report to town councillors in December and will be shared with the public in consultation sessions to be scheduled in early 2025.
The plan calls for residential properties to pay an annual flat fee estimated to range from about $60 to about $200, based on property type.
Owners of single-family homes would be charged the highest fee, with condos, townhomes and semi-detached properties paying less.
But the bill for business and other non-residential lots would vary, based on the amount of impervious land (such as paved parking areas) on the property.
Small non-residential properties would be charged an estimated $63 a year, medium properties just over $3,000 and the largest about $12,528.
An average non-residential property, with an area of about 8,100 square metres, would pay $3,064.
The new fee could be in place by the spring or summer of 2026.
Why a new fee, in addition to property taxes?
The cost of managing Oakville’s stormwater has always been paid through property taxes.
But with aging infrastructure, ongoing growth and climate change driving the need for improvements to the system, the town needs to almost double it’s annual spending to catch up and keep up.
A recent rainwater management plan calls for spending of $24.4 million yearly, or about $12 million more than currently budgeted for stormwater management.
The town says the new stormwater fee will provide a fairer way to distribute those costs.
That’s because residential properties currently pay about 73 per cent of the money Oakville collects in property taxes but contribute less than half of the town’s runoff.
By billing property owners based on their amount of impervious area, the town could shift the burden of paying for new infrastructure away from homeowners and toward commercial and institutional properties.
“The proposed stormwater funding model ensures a fairer way to share the costs of maintaining stormwater infrastructure by shifting the costs off of the property tax system for residents, with fees based on the amount of runoff each property generates,” says Mayor Rob Burton, in a recent town press release.
“This approach reflects public feedback and creates a sustainable, transparent, and equitable system.”
Public consultation on the fee will continue in early 2025.
A final recommendation and implementation plan will be before town council for consideration by mid-2025.
