Andrew Stevens Ward 3

Following the lead of municipalities around the world, Council committed to making Regina 100% renewable by 2050. That means re-thinking the way we plan, budget, and build in our community. Some concrete objectives include:

• Providing tax and other financial incentives for businesses and residents installing commercial and residential solar panel, EV charging stations, solar heating units, and other renewable energy technology.
• Requiring parking lots and other utilized land to install EV stations and solar panels.
• Electrifying our transit fleet in an effort to realize short and long-term maintenance costs.
• An economic development strategy that aims to make Regina a renewable energy hub, and by encouraging large energy companies to construct urban solar farms and to situate offices in our city.
• Improving transit services while reducing fares.
• Implementing a grey water strategy and incentive model.
• Rolling out a more ambitious recycling and composting program for residences and industry.
• Making Regina more accessible for cycling and walking.
• Planting new trees and meeting the City’s own target of one tree per resident.
• Curbing sprawl and incentivizing infill development and densification, while also preserving the integrity of existing neighbourhoods.
• Ensuring that the City takes a leadership role in energy conservation and renewable energy production.

Affordability is a big part of this, too. Like most cities, Regina water rates have two parts: a basic or flat rate charge and a consumption charge to encourage conservation. But unlike most other prairie cities Regina charges a high basic rate and a low consumption rate. This policy needs to be revisited while ensuring the financial sustainability of our water and sewer infrastructure. Why? Water rates in Regina are rising more than 2.5 times faster than property taxes. Since 2007, property taxes have risen by almost 37 per cent.  In the same period, water utility rates have risen by 105 per cent.  Utility rates, particularly when the basic rate is high, fall most heavily on low-income residents. We also need to remove recycling costs from that bill. That’s why I advanced a motion that asked Administration to develop a means-tested model to help out low-income residents with their water bills in our community.