Farkas asks Calgarians to shop Bowness and Montgomery as water rates nearly double by 2030

Mayor Jeromy Farkas bought hair product at Fades Barber Shop on Friday and asked Calgarians to shop local this holiday season. The Bearspaw South feeder main replacement is entering its final month. Last week council voted 9-6 for water rate increases that will almost double what average residential and business customers pay monthly by 2030.

Kellie Freeman, executive director of the Mainstreet Bowness Business Improvement Area, said businesses are finally seeing the end of the water main work. She pointed to an August break on Bowness Road that left 20 businesses without water. Many Calgarians, she said, assumed area businesses were closed during the construction and stayed away.

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce called the rate increase "egregious." Farkas said affordability and infrastructure reliability are the top concerns business owners raise with him, and that the increases are needed to upgrade aging infrastructure. He expressed disappointment that Thursday's federal budget did not specifically address the city's needs.

The $6.5-billion capital program to increase capacity and replace the most aging assets is funded through customer user fees rather than property taxes.