A proposed rate increase from SaskPower is going to cost Yorkton taxpayers money.
In February SaskPower announced it had applied for a rate increase amounting to about 7.5 per cent for a typical residential customer.
If approved, the increase would take effect Aug. 1. On June 1, 2009, SaskPower rates rose 8.5 per cent for all its customers.
SaskPower said residential customers would see electric bills go up $6 per month. Farm customers' bill would go up $16 per month.
Yorkton Mayor James Wilson said the increase will hit the city in terms of its operational costs.
As examples, the cost to operate the City's waste treatment plant would climb 11.7 per cent, and street light costs would climb 4.7 per cent, said Wilson.
"The overall cost to the tax base is 0.6 - 0.7 per cent," he said, adding property taxes would go up nearly three-quarters of a per cent in 2011 just based on the SaskPower increase.
Wilson said in some cases, such as the Gallagher Centre, the costs can be passed on to user organizations, but citizens still end up paying the increase at some point, whether in taxes, or user fees."If our actual costs rise We then have to pass it on to user organizations," he said, adding at some point as costs rise to citizens it may limit their ability to utilize recreational facilities.
"Then what happens to our youth?" he questioned. "What happens in terms of healthy lifestyles?"
Wilson said he appreciates the Crown corporation needs to increase revenues to help move forward with infrastructure renewal. He said since the 1980s there's been "no major infrastructure investment in the province," adding to meet a growing population and economy "they're going to have to invest heavily They have to have something happening."
Without such investment Saskatchewan could have to look to draw power from other grids, such as Manitoba, said Wilson.
Wilson added in general terms SaskPower serves the community well.
"The service they provide, they're very good at it," he said.
Wilson said a solution to meeting SaskPower's need for money for infrastructure, and dealing with the costs to the City is not easy to come up with. "It's a domino effect down the line," he offered."
One option is to look at ways of getting off the power grid.
Wilson said the City is investigating generating power for the waste treatment plant using materials from the landfill.
"We'd like to be a pilot project in the province," he said, adding it does appear viable "to generate power off the landfill."
Wilson said as everybody looks to "develop some kind of 'green' initiative," in terms of power generation, so using the landfill as a source for material to turn into power "could have an impact throughout Saskatchewan."
