City Hall has pared back a proposed increase to utility deposits for tenants.
City administration had initially proposed an increase in the deposit from $150 to $300, with another increase to $400 happening Jan. 1.
But city council put the brakes on that idea at their previous meeting, citing concerns the increase was too high.
Instead, council has passed a resolution to amend the utility bylaws to allow for a deposit increase of $25 to happen Jan. 1, 2017, followed by a further increase of $25 on Jan. 1, 2018. That would bring the overall deposit to $200.
Also approved as part of the resolution is administration’s plan to implement monthly tenant billing. That would be a change from the current quarterly billings.
The resolution was in response to concerns raised by landlords about tenants moving out of their buildings without paying their utility bills, leaving the building owners on the hook for those accounts.
Since the last meeting administration received a number of comments from owners, said Director of Finance David Gillan.
Administration had looked at credit cards as well as mandatory participation in the installment payment plan as options, but it was determined that the option for monthly billing through an estimation system was the most feasible. The monthly billing would estimate tenant use eight times a year and bill for four times a year.
The monthly billing should reduce the frequency and severity of the issue, according to Gillan’s report to council. The plan is to implement monthly billing in January 2017.
The resolution passed unanimously at Monday’s meeting although there were some concerns expressed by Councillor Cathy Richardson on whether to increase the deposit at all. She preferred to “see how this works first” before bringing in the deposit increase.
Councillor Greg Lightfoot, however, was comfortable with the increase to $200. “Four hundred dollars did scare me a lot. I could see that being a huge issue … with regards to low-income earners. I think $200 is a very, very good compromise.”
Utility bylaw amendments will still have to come back to council for the deposit increases to come into effect.
