Norfolk County moves forward with transition to internal water billing system

Norfolk Mayor Amy Martin.

Luke Edwards

Grant Haven Media

A decision that ultimately won’t be one for this term of council to make nevertheless created a stumbling block in Norfolk’s push for an internal water billing system.

After much discussion about potential costs when ratepayers miss their billing deadlines, councillors ultimately approved staff recommendations that will allow the county to transition to the new system next year. 

Councillors got stuck on how much, if at all, the county should charge people when staff sends out reminders to let them know they are in arrears. They had already deferred the report from an earlier meeting to give staff a chance to dig into the proposed charges a little more.

The result of that deferral was for staff to propose small reductions in the costs. Under the policy, when a ratepayer is late with their payment, there are three escalating warnings. The first is an automated reminder to pay issued after six days, followed by a 30-day reminder and a 45-day warning that the fees could be transferred to the tax roll, the move to the tax roll comes with an additional $50 charge. 

Following the deferral, staff revised the costs down slightly, recommending a charge of $4.28 for the six-day automated message (down from $5 originally), and $6.73 for the two later warnings (down from $10 originally). 

However, staff pointed out those fees would be part of the county’s user fee review and ultimately decided on and approved at that point.

But that didn’t stop councillors from trying to recommend their own fee structures. Coun. Kim Huffman proposed charges of $2 for the first letter and $5 for the two later warnings. Coun. Adam Veri said he preferred no charge for the first letter and perhaps $10 for the following two.

Councillors also considered waiving the fee for the initial letter for a year as residents adapt to the new system.

Coun. Chris Van Paassen supported the idea of no extra charge for the first late warning.

“That’s the cost of doing business,” he said.

However, that was met with confusion and some opposition, with Mayor Amy Martin suggesting a “loophole” that would allow an account to miss a payment multiple times and not receive the $2 charge. She also said the county’s water/wastewater budget is where Norfolk is facing the most financial strain so any subsidization would only exacerbate that.

“Everyone else who pays on time is now subsidizing those who don’t,” she said.

Ultimately two amendments looking to change the charges were defeated, while the remaining recommendations were approved. Council will get another chance to consider the fees when the user fee bylaw is up for discussion at the end of this year.

Staff work to bring the billing system in-house has also resulted in several other changes to the policy. One of the main changes will move billing to every second month instead of the current monthly billing. The goal is to save some money and administrative work. However, to relieve potential financial burden for ratepayers, the policy also proposed equal billing options.

A second major change will see the owner of the property be primary account holder, with the opportunity for tenants in a rental situation to be a secondary account holder.

“This change in definition will allow for increased transparency for the property owner. The property owner is ultimately responsible for any arrears on the account as it is their property roll that is impacted as part of the water and wastewater collection process,” a staff report said. “Through this proposed change, property owners will be able to act more proactively when managing properties that are occupied by tenants.”

The county will also be making a push for more people to sign up for e-billing. Changes are set to take effect in February 2027.