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One More Action to Help Reduce Poverty

22 February 2018

In a recent article by Metro Calgary it stated the city paid nearly $1 million is water billing adjustments in 2017 after citizens raised concerns.

We urge City Council to approve the recommendation in the “Water Utility Billing Adjustment Process and Wastewater Rate Report” that the SPC on Utilities and Corporate Services considered and defeated at its February 14th meeting.

The utilities are integral basic needs for Calgarians.  The recommendations are reasonable and help to protect Calgarians from high water bills by sharing the cost with a small increase among all water customers.

We are especially supportive of the additional, recommendation to seek out ways to provide assistance to low-income Calgarians who may experience unplanned increases in their water bills. This aligns with Enough for All, Calgary’s poverty reduction strategy.

City Council has taken a number of actions over the past few years that align with Enough for All: Fair Entry, the sliding scale transit pass, expediting social housing developments, moving to a “one-window” system for accessing social housing, the revision of bylaws on the location of pay day lending businesses and moving to legalizing secondary suites as a discretionary use.  This is one more act of leadership to help reduce poverty in our community.

We encourage everyone to contact our Mayor and City Council and encourage them to approve the recommendations coming forward at its meeting next week. (Feel free to copy the above wording to send to City Council.)

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