People who live in a Breslau, Ont., neighbourhood are in shock after receiving a letter earlier this month saying they had to pay almost $14,000 for water and sewer work done on their street a decade ago.
Twenty-five properties along Scheifele Place, Woolwich Street South, Dolman Street and Joseph Street received the letter dated Oct. 27 from Woolwich Township. Each household is being asked to pay $13,950.19 to cover the cost of the project, which is $348,754.75.
“I was in complete shock. It’s such a huge amount,” Kayla Jager, who has lived on Woolwich Street since 2018, told CBC News.
“I think it’s completely unfair. I’m at a loss really because I don’t know where to begin. I’m not a lawyer and I can’t really afford a lawyer, so I’m hoping for a miracle.”
Jager said she and her neighbours did not receive any communication from the township about any potential charges until they received that letter.
The letter, which CBC News has seen, explains township council approved a bylaw on Oct. 7 to levy the costs of the work to property owners that benefit or will benefit from “municipal servicing works.”
The letter also outlines that residents can pay the bill by Dec. 12 or have the option to add it to their tax bill, paying annual instalments of $1,286.25 for the next 20 years.
“It’s terrifying that the [township] can do this to us at all and I don’t think we are the ones benefiting in any way because I’m on a septic tank and a well so I have no use for this,” Jager said.
She said she also worries for the neighbours who are on a fixed income and may struggle to pay the bill.
“Some of them are in financial situations, where they’re retired and they’re on a fixed budget too, and this is just as much of a shock to them as it is for us.”
Michael Lamb, a real estate lawyer with Cohen Highley LLP in Kitchener and a professor at London’s University of Western Ontario, said residents should check to see if they have title insurance.
Title insurance is a policy that protects homeowners or commercial property owners against challenges and problems related to ownership of the property.
“Your title insurance policy will cover matters which were at a municipal level that would have been disclosed,” Lamb told CBC News.
“The main thing would be to investigate how this was put together and whether the [township] followed the municipal act and whether this bylaw is even valid.”
Jared Puppe, director of infrastructure services, told CBC News the township should have done a better job of communicating the charges with residents.
Puppe said that in 2014, 77 per cent of residents in the neighbourhood voted in favour of having water and sewer services extended to their homes. The township went into litigation with the construction company when the work was completed in 2016.
That litigation did not get resolved until 2024, which is why residents are being billed now.
“The thinking at the time was that we felt we were fighting the good fight to reduce the cost, but what we missed sight of is the fact that there was likely to be property ownership changes throughout the process,” he said.
“It was a miss. There’s no excuse for it.”
Puppe said he understands the almost $14,000 bill is a lot of money and that neighbours are frustrated.
He said residents should contact the township’s finance department to go over how they would like to pay and go over their options, especially those who may struggle to pay the charge.
“There are hardship cases that can be heard by council and those people should certainly need to contact the finance department and talk about their individual situation to determine what those next steps should be.”
He said the township is also letting residents know they now have until May 2026 to pay the charges in full through a new letter that is being directly delivered to residents by the end of this week.
He said if residents don’t inform the township about how they’d be paying or refuse to pay, they will automatically enter into the 20-year payment plan.
Puppe said avoiding a situation like this in future will be a priority and if the township found itself in a scenario where a levy bylaw has to be delayed, there would be regular communication with affected residents.
“That’s the reality. People could have been saving up for that had they known and people who were new to the neighbourhood then would have been well informed of what they had purchased into.”
