In a follow up to my letter to the editor earlier in the week, and after speaking to Mayor Bruce Banman, I’ve come to somewhat of a reconsideration on the tier structure for our water billing.
Although I’m in favour of some sort of baseline beginning for water allotment, of which I find the current allotment reasonable at 15 cubic meters per person, per two month period, based on a family of four.
I would like to propose some possible solutions to those with larger families:
1. That baseline water allotment could be considered to be increased from 15 to 20 cubic meters per person, per two month period for a family of four or less.
2. That larger families, larger than the baseline of four in an “immediate family,” could apply to the city for a variance to extend their water allotment as per the extra family members in the home, thus increasing each tier level of consumption relative to the family size.
3. That homeowners with legal suites, and I emphasize “legal,” could apply for a water variance to include a legal second family living at the same address which would allow the home owner increased tier levels relative to the number of people living in the suite.
This same application for water variance would work for the large multi-family homes with two or more families. They would still start at the baseline of a family of four and make application for a water variance for the remainder of the people living in the house, and this would effectively increase the first tier and be relative to cover all tier levels.
Understandably, this is more paper work for the city and the home owner, but it does put the emphasis on the home owner to request the variance and fill out the explicit information of why and who the variance is including.
Jack Langstaff