With Airdrie City Council recently accepting the proposed 2023 operating and capital budget that sees a 5.97 per cent municipal tax increase, residents will also see some changes to animal licensing, business licensing and utility bylaw amendments.

Originally, animal licensing fees cost $71 for a non-altered dog, $41 for an altered dog, $51 for a non-altered cat and $26 for an altered cat. It was proposed that all rates be increased by $, with the exception of the altered cat, which will increase by $2.

Council gave all three readings to the bylaw; hence, the fees for animal licenses will be around $74 for a non-altered dog, $44 for an altered dog, $54 for a non-altered cat and $28 for an altered cat.

Business licensing will also go up. Staff proposed the local-based business license fee increase of $9. Currently, it's $128 and would rise to $137. The non-resident fee which is for every business that is not based in Airdrie increased by $46 from $357 to $403 and the temporary seasonal license increased by $6 from $102 to $108. 

Changes are also coming to the water, sewer and waste management utilities. When it comes to water, the fixed rate was increased from 66 cents to 74 cents in 2023. One bright side to these changes is the variable consumption rate is going down from $1.5222 per cubic meter to $1.4999 per cubic meter. 

The sewer rate will be going up for fixed and variable rates. The fixed daily rate is to increase from $1.36 to $1.61 in 2023. The variable rate is also going up from $1.9509 per cubic meter to  $2.0573 per cubic meter.

Waste management is also going up, waste collection is going up from 74 cents to 85 cents while the environmental services daily fee is making a small change from 19 cents to 20 cents per day.

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