Breslau property owners facing unexpected bill for almost $14K for work completed in 2016

Some homeowners in Breslau got an unexpected bill for almost $14,000. CTV’s Colton Wiens explains.

Twenty-five property owners in Breslau, Ont., are being told they owe $13,950.19 to the Township of Woolwich after sanitary and water services were installed on their properties years ago.

The news, and the bill, came as a shock to some people living in the area outside Kitchener.

“We’re obviously reflecting on some things that could certainly have been done better,” Jared Puppe, director of Infrastructure Services for the Township of Woolwich, said. “One of them was our communication process here recently.”

Around 2014, as Woolwich Street South was poised for reconstruction, the township asked property owners if they wanted access to municipal water and sewer services. Seventy-seven per cent of respondents indicated they were in favour of the change, so the services were put in for 25 properties.

When construction wrapped up in 2016, the township entered litigation with the design consultant over costs.

“The challenge in this particular instance was that we were then embroiled in the legal disputes following construction,” Puppe explained. “That factored into the delay significantly, as we did not resolve that dispute until late 2024.”

The township had been hoping to reduce overall costs through the litigation process and decided not to initiate a bylaw that would have begun the payment process while that legal issue was still being sorted out.

“Now, in hindsight, maybe that could have been initiated at the time. And then obviously those people involved would have been fully aware, and then that could have been dealt with,” Puppe said.

“Then any future [cost] reduction could have been addressed later. So, we certainly acknowledge that. And that’s something that we’ve been looking at internally.”

‘Quite a shock and a surprise’

In 2016, people living on the properties were told about the installation. However, anyone who moved in after that may not have been told about the impending costs until the levying bylaw was enacted on Oct. 7, 2025.

Several owners who moved to the area in the past five years told CTV News had not known what was coming.

“For those people that were around, obviously it would have been expected at some point. But those who unfortunately have recently moved in, this is quite a shock and a surprise,” Puppe said.

Puppe also acknowledged the recent notice to property owners didn’t fully describe what is expected going forward. The township will be reaching out again to let owners know what their payment options are.

Puppe said owners will be asked to either pay the full fee upfront or enter into a 20-year repayment program with an interest rate of 6.7 per cent. The interest rate is based on the prime rate at the time the levying bylaw was enacted plus two per cent.

Anyone who chooses to pay over the 20-year term has the ability at any point in that term to pay off the full amount.

Owners will need to let the township know what their final decisions are sometime next month.

“There wouldn’t be [payments] required until May of next year,” Puppe explained. “That was not in the communication. We are working on a new communication, to be delivered to those affected residents shortly.”

Even if property owners have not hooked up to the municipal services since they were installed, they will still be charged.

“Appreciating that some people could have invested money into the private system and would like to utilize that. But they would then have the benefit of connecting at some point in the future to municipal servicing, and the cost would still apply, whether they connect now or at a certain time in the future,” Puppe said.

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