Water rates are set to rise by eight per cent in Armstrong next year.
Council endorsed the rate increase for commercial, industrial and residential users at its meeting Monday, Aug. 11. The increase will come into effect for commercial and industrial users on Jan. 1, 2026, and for residential users on April 1.
The rate hikes will help the city pay for its $9.7 million water reservoir and supply line twinning project. The city is taking a phased approach to support long-term borrowing for the project, and it's expected that most of the project will be funded through long-term borrowing, according to a report to council.
Due to recent legislative changes that have increased the threshold for borrowing without voter assent, the city can now borrow about $9 million using today's rate without going to referendum or using an alternative approval process. The city plans to borrow $8.7 million, which would put the annual debt servicing costs at just over half a million dollars when factoring in estimated cost sharing from Spallumcheen.
"Due to the magnitude of the project, construction would reasonably span three fiscal years with multiple draws from the loan during that time. This results in graduated impacts of debt servicing costs over those three years," the report states. "This also enables water rate increases to be phased in over the same period to lessen the impact."
The current plan is to have an equalized water rate increase of eight per cent per year for 2026, 2027 and 2028, which staff say would provide the necessary revenue to fund the debt servicing by the end of the three-year period. So far, only the 2026 water rate increase has been endorsed by council.
A bylaw amendment reflecting the new rates will be brought forward, and communication of the changes will be included in the city's 2026-2030 Financial Plan engagement.
