The tab for partial refunds of a storm sewer extension fee that one Burnaby resident called “unethical” and others called “unfair” will cost local taxpayers more than $1.8 million.
That’s according to a report by city director of engineering Leon Gous to the Financial Management Committee.
The city had been charging local residents money as part of the Storm Sewer Extension Contribution and Fee Bylaw 2017. The fee sparked an outcry from local residents who said as many as 6,000 homeowners could be impacted. According to the report, this bylaw was repealed on Feb. 8 and the Burnaby Sewer Connection Bylaw 1961 was amended to include a storm service connection fee of $11,400.
The city report said staff reviewed the amount paid by owners under the bylaw and compared it to the new fee of $11,400 to determine the amount to refund. Based on the analysis performed by staff, refunds in the amount of $1,804,870 will need to be processed, the report said, with $1,307,623 of that needing to be funded from deposits held on account, and $497,247 funded from the Capital Reserve Fund.
“Under the Storm Sewer Extension Contribution and Fee Bylaw 2017, fees were collected and held on deposit,” the report said. “As the work was completed, these fees were transferred to the Capital Reserve Fund to help offset the storm sewer costs. The refund amounts to be funded from the Capital Reserve Fund represent the capital works that have been completed under the program to date.”
Burnaby resident Dave Hayre told the NOW back in January 2020 that he was told by the city he would need pay more than $33,000 as he developed his property – costs associated with connecting his property to a storm drain line behind his property and replacing a ditch that drains into a catch basin at the bottom of the sloped lane.
Hayre and a group of residents fought the bylaw.
“We believe this bylaw was quietly passed and is an unethical approach at burdening property owners with a cost towards which they have already contributed to,” he told the NOW.
“This bylaw was created to dump the cost of infrastructure of storm sewers onto unsuspecting property owners. Most of these properties have ditches in the front, rear or side of their properties that carry city rain water.”
The fee being charged to Hayre was a result of a bylaw passed by city council in 2017, according to Jonathan Helmus, Burnaby’s assistant director of engineering for infrastructure and development, in a January 2020 interview with the NOW.
“If they are doing a significant addition where they may impact their drainage for their property, and they're doing potential excavation on their property and they're spending $250,000, we're saying then that can be an appropriate time to connect their house to the storm sewer,” Helmus told the NOW.
The goal is to one day connect the 20% of detached homes that currently aren’t hooked up to the city’s storm sewers, Helmus said, and by making homeowners pay for the upgrades, the City of Burnaby would save an estimated $200 million, he said.
Homeowners have told the NOW during the past year that they think any fee charged to them is unfair.
- With additional reporting by Kelvin Gawley
