Norfolk County\u00a0may have the highest water rate of any municipality in Ontario.<\/p>\n
Published Oct 29, 2025 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 Last updated 7\u00a0hours ago \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 3 minute read<\/p>\n
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Simcoe water tower Photo by Staff \/Simcoe ReformerArticle content<\/p>\n
Norfolk County\u00a0may have the highest water rate of any municipality in Ontario.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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That was the speculation\u00a0at a budget meeting on Tuesday when\u00a0councillors\u00a0approved a 10.2 per cent increase,\u00a0amounting to\u00a0about $15 a month,\u00a0for\u00a0the average\u00a0user\u2019s\u00a0water and wastewater bill, starting in January.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The county\u2019s water and wastewater rates have increased more than 37 per cent since 2022.\u00a0Next year, the average user will pay about $1,948 for\u00a0the services.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s\u00a0no wonder water consumption is down in the county, said Coun. Mike Columbus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve\u00a0had some residents tell me\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0not filling their bathtubs up as high and\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0reluctant to flush their toilets.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
County treasurer Amy Fanning said the 2026 water\/wastewater budget \u201ccontinues to tell\u00a0a very similar\u00a0story to what has been told in previous\u00a0years and\u00a0represents\u00a0an ongoing struggle between significant infrastructure needs and resident affordability.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe know our rates are high,\u201d said Andrew Grice,\u00a0Norfolk\u2019s manager of public works. \u201cWe know our water bills are higher than\u00a0those\u00a0of our\u00a0neighbouring\u00a0municipalities. But our rate\u00a0budget\u00a0is driven\u00a0by capital investment and\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0to close our infrastructure gap and\u00a0maintain\u00a0the levels of service our council has adopted as part of our asset management plan.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s the forecasted 10-year capital plan, which includes $416 million in necessary upgrades, that\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The Ontario government required municipalities to develop strategic asset management plans\u00a0for core infrastructure, including water, wastewater,\u00a0roads\u00a0and bridges, in 2019.\u00a0Fanning said it resulted in\u00a0soaring capital costs for\u00a0many municipalities\u00a0where infrastructure had deteriorated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we go back five years, our 10-year capital plan total was $182 million,\u201d she said. \u201cAsset management\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0provincially\u00a0mandated,\u00a0and most municipalities\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0doing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow\u00a0all of\u00a0a\u00a0sudden,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0planning for $425 million. While\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0scary and daunting,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0also a good thing that we know more about our assets and where\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0at.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
CAO Al Meneses said there\u00a0\u201cseems to be a narrative out there\u201d that much of the\u00a0rate\u00a0budget increases are related to growth.\u00a0In fact, the number of\u00a0residential\u00a0water bills issued by the county\u00a0this year\u00a0increased by just 94\u00a0from\u00a02024,\u00a0to 15,559.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe vast majority of these increases are specific to the assets that are in the ground that have not been replaced in a timely manner,\u201d said Meneses. \u201cWe\u2019ve\u00a0not contributed enough to our reserves historically and the inflationary costs are going higher and higher.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The problem is compounded by\u00a0the\u00a0low number\u00a0of users, said Coun. Tom\u00a0Masschaele.\u00a0Only about 60 per cent of households are connected to municipal water services.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Mayor Amy Martin said the budget is \u201cgloom and doom,\u201d\u00a0she pointed to significant projects\u00a0initiated\u00a0by this term of council, including\u00a0those\u00a0at\u00a0the wastewater treatment plants in Simcoe and Port Dover and water treatment plants in Port Dover and Port Rowan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to continue to\u00a0advocate to\u00a0upper levels of\u00a0government for\u00a0investment in Norfolk\u2019s assets,\u201d said Martin. \u201cThis year\u2019s rate\u00a0represents\u00a0another step in a long-term plan of continuous improvement and the diligent work of our staff to modernize aging infrastructure.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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