A new stormwater tax may soon be coming down the pipe.
The town is considering levying a fee against Oakville residents and businesses to help maintain and update aging stormwater infrastructure.
A recent rainwater management strategy estimates it will cost $640 million to care for the town’s storm sewer pipes, culverts, creeks, shorelines, ponds, ditches and harbours over the next 30 years.
Aging infrastructure, ongoing growth, and the impact of climate change are all driving the need for improvements.
It’s a “very, very, very big number,” says Mayor Rob Burton, pointing out that the town’s total 2023 tax levy amounted to about $240 million.
Stormwater is rain and melted snow that flows over the land and into drains, ditches, creeks and lakes.
In urban areas filled with hard surfaces like roads and rooftops that don’t allow stormwater to soak into the ground, water flows quickly into storm drains, often carrying pollutants such as oil, grit and garbage into creeks and the lake.
Stormwater infrastructure helps the town manage water runoff to protect properties from flooding and avoid water pollution.
The strategy says that to keep up and catch up, Oakville will need to spend an average of $21.3 million every year.
Some of the money will come from the town’s capital reserves, but at least $12 million more will be needed each year to cover costs over the coming decades.
A new fee is intended to “provide a long-term, sustainable funding source” to pay for the projects outlined in the strategy, say town staff.
It’s an approach that the mayor endorses.
“The rainwater management strategy is either going to blow your budget to smithereens, or we’re going to have some kind of special fee that deals with it. My preference would be a fee,” said Burton at a budget meeting this summer.
A number of other Ontario municipalities have recently imposed stormwater taxes.
In Ajax, where a fee was introduced this spring, homeowners are charged $48 annually. Commercial and industrial properties pay $0.25 per square metre of impervious area each year.
Oakville has hired a consultant to explore the details of a stormwater fee and report back in 2024 on issues including:
- What are the guiding principles of the fee? Should everyone pay the same amount, or should the tax reflect some user benefit? How important is easy implementation versus the benefit of a detailed fee?
- Who is charged, and how is the fee calculated? Should the fee reflect a home’s assessment? Its roof size? Or something else?
- What is the fee strategy? How much should be raised? Over what term? How will the money be used to finance work?
- What are other municipalities doing?
- How should it be collected? Should it be town-wide, or should different areas pay different fees?
- How should it be implemented? How do we communicate and consult with the public?
Protecting the community from flooding is a responsibility the town shares with Halton Region and the two conservation authorities responsible for the local watershed.
Flooding may occur when rain or melting snow causes rivers or the lake to spill onto adjacent land. It can also happen when drainage systems can’t manage incoming water flow and back up to flood overland or through the sanitary sewer system.
Projects to be completed over the next 30 years
Renewal and rehabilitation work - $253.4 million
- $34.1 million to assess, repair and renew the storm sewer system
- $69.2 million to monitor and rehabilitate creek channels to control erosion
- $25.8 million to monitor and rehabilitate shorelines outside of harbours
- $34.9 million to clean out sediment from the town’s 67 stormwater management ponds
- $15.7 million to replace minor culverts as they reach end-of-life
- $63 million for annual stormwater system maintenance
Improvements for climate adaptation - $381 million
- $1.6 million for short-term works, including improving storm sewer inlets, installing inlet control devices and installing additional catch basins
- $293 million for upgrades to the storm sewer network in 42 areas to protect about 5,000 Oakville properties
- $29.6 million to implement infrastructure upgrades to protect flood plan areas alongside Munn’s Creek, Sheldon Creek, Lower Wedgewood and Lower Morrison Creeks, Joshua Creek, and Fourteen Mile and McCraney Creeks.
- $34.7 million for ditch improvements and potential new storm sewers in south Oakville neighbourhoods
- $23.6 million for improvements to Oakville and Bronte harbours