‘We are going to make this right’: Dilkens asking to reset Stormwater Financing Plan

The City of Windsor is issuing rebates for those who have paid more than expected with the new stormwater charges. CTV Windsor’s Travis Fortnum has more.

Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens is asking city council to approve a reset to the plan that looks at ways of reducing wastewater bills.

Dilkens said an upcoming council report will detail administration’s review and analysis of the city’s recently launched Stormwater Financing Plan. That review was requested through Mayoral Decision MD 13-2025.

“Certainly, I am not happy with the way the Stormwater Financing Plan is landing,” said Dilkens. “I made a commitment, along with city council, to the residents of the city that they were going to see a decrease in their bill. That is the way it is supposed to be. We began this process back in 2018. The goal was to ensure folks pay their fair share through a system that allows us to implement our Sewer Master Plan to make improvements like you’re seeing out of the St. Rose Pumping Station, at the Lou Romano Water Reclamation Plant, and through projects across the entire city.”

Launched in 2025, the city’s new approach separated the previous sewer surcharge into distinct wastewater and stormwater components.

Dilkens said the goal of the new fair-share plan was to save most property owners money by shifting costs for stormwater management to properties with large non-absorbent surfaces like big-box stores with large parking lots.

Based on projections and modelling, council anticipated that, compared to 2024, the vast majority of city residents and many small and medium-sized businesses would see a reduction in their total wastewater and stormwater costs in 2025.

In requesting the review, Dilkens noted that city council approved the Stormwater Financing Plan with the understanding that residential homeowner billings were expected to decrease on an annual basis for combined waste/storm water charges, and that some residents had expressed concerns indicating that they have experienced an increase to their recent bills following the program roll-out.

Considering the evolving situation, Dilkens directed city administration to report back to city council regarding the program with a detailed analysis of the impact on pre-existing residential ENWIN customers as a result of the separation of the wastewater and stormwater billings.

Administration was also asked to include the number of homeowners currently on septic systems for which no wastewater charge was previously charged and the total monthly stormwater revenue now being collected from these homeowners. Finally, the mayor asked administration to provide city council with all reasonable options for consideration to affect the expected decrease.

Dilkens announced that he will ask council to approve a reset to the plan that will include the following:

A credit for residential wastewater customers who, because of low water usage, are seeing an increase to their monthly bills;

A phased-in billing approach for all residential customers currently using a septic system for wastewater removal;

A reduction to the annual charge for cemeteries, churches, and other designated places of worship; and

A one-time transitional credit for all non-residential and business property owners.

“We committed to ending basement flooding, and we are working deliberately and strategically to realize that goal. That was the impetus behind the whole program update. There were multiple checkpoints with city council throughout the years. We delayed the implementation by an entire year to ensure things would run smoothly relative to this complex conversion,” said Dilkens.

Dilkens said for some components of the billing plan, that has not been the case.

“We knew we would have some issues with folks on septic systems, and at cemeteries and churches; however, on the residential side we did not expect that some residential customers would experience increases, where I committed to 99 per cent of residents realizing savings. Homeowners should be paying less under this new system. We are going to make this right.”

At the council meeting on April 28, 2025, Dilkens will ask council to approve this identified path forward to address concerns with the Stormwater Financing Plan’s rollout, and to effectively reset the initiative.