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Norfolk County may have the highest water rate of any municipality in Ontario.
Published Oct 29, 2025 • Last updated 7 hours ago • 3 minute read
Simcoe water tower Photo by Staff /Simcoe ReformerArticle content
Norfolk County may have the highest water rate of any municipality in Ontario.
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That was the speculation at a budget meeting on Tuesday when councillors approved a 10.2 per cent increase, amounting to about $15 a month, for the average user’s water and wastewater bill, starting in January.
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The county’s water and wastewater rates have increased more than 37 per cent since 2022. Next year, the average user will pay about $1,948 for the services.
It’s no wonder water consumption is down in the county, said Coun. Mike Columbus.
“I’ve had some residents tell me they’re not filling their bathtubs up as high and they’re reluctant to flush their toilets.”
County treasurer Amy Fanning said the 2026 water/wastewater budget “continues to tell a very similar story to what has been told in previous years and represents an ongoing struggle between significant infrastructure needs and resident affordability.”
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“We know our rates are high,” said Andrew Grice, Norfolk’s manager of public works. “We know our water bills are higher than those of our neighbouring municipalities. But our rate budget is driven by capital investment and that’s to close our infrastructure gap and maintain the levels of service our council has adopted as part of our asset management plan.”
The budget includes capital spending in 2026 of just over $8.5 million, about half for rehabilitation of the Port Dover water tower, and $1.2 million for sewage pumping station upgrades, among other smaller projects.
But it’s the forecasted 10-year capital plan, which includes $416 million in necessary upgrades, that’s the real issue. Among the projected costs are $245 million for an inter-urban water supply program; $118 million for major wastewater replacement and upgrades; and $34 million for major water replacement upgrades.
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The Ontario government required municipalities to develop strategic asset management plans for core infrastructure, including water, wastewater, roads and bridges, in 2019. Fanning said it resulted in soaring capital costs for many municipalities where infrastructure had deteriorated.
“If we go back five years, our 10-year capital plan total was $182 million,” she said. “Asset management wasn’t provincially mandated, and most municipalities weren’t doing it.
“Now all of a sudden, we’re planning for $425 million. While that’s scary and daunting, it’s also a good thing that we know more about our assets and where they’re at.”
CAO Al Meneses said there “seems to be a narrative out there” that much of the rate budget increases are related to growth. In fact, the number of residential water bills issued by the county this year increased by just 94 from 2024, to 15,559.
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“The vast majority of these increases are specific to the assets that are in the ground that have not been replaced in a timely manner,” said Meneses. “We’ve not contributed enough to our reserves historically and the inflationary costs are going higher and higher.”
The problem is compounded by the low number of users, said Coun. Tom Masschaele. Only about 60 per cent of households are connected to municipal water services.
While Mayor Amy Martin said the budget is “gloom and doom,” she pointed to significant projects initiated by this term of council, including those at the wastewater treatment plants in Simcoe and Port Dover and water treatment plants in Port Dover and Port Rowan.
“We have to continue to advocate to upper levels of government for investment in Norfolk’s assets,” said Martin. “This year’s rate represents another step in a long-term plan of continuous improvement and the diligent work of our staff to modernize aging infrastructure.”
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