Farmers shouldn’t pay for services they don’t use, Donna Skelly says
An Ontario MPP wants her colleagues to work on a plan to exempt farmland from stormwater fees.
Donna Skelly, the Conservative MPP for Flamborough-Glanbrook, raised a motion in the Ontario legislature in December calling on Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra to “prohibit municipalities from charging fees related to stormwater for agricultural properties…”
Simply put, if farmers aren’t benefitting from these fees, they shouldn’t pay them, Skelly said.
“These are properties that don’t contribute to stormwater management systems, or don’t currently have access to those kinds of municipal services,” Skelly told Farms.com. “So, you have farmers and rural residents paying to subsidize residents and businesses that receive those services.”
Each Ontario municipality is currently responsible for setting its stormwater fee rate.
Hamilton, for example, is planning to implement its fees in 2026.
The City estimates a single-family detached home in an urban or rural community will pay between $10 and $20 per month.
For agricultural properties, “the fee will be based on the actual impervious area (this includes asphalt, concrete and rooftops) of each individual property,” the City says, adding it will use aerial photography to measure these areas.
Brant County is developing a stormwater fee plan it could implement this year.
Its figures include a flat rate of $12 per month for residential properties smaller than one acre and within certain areas. Industrial, commercial and similar properties would pay just over $21 per month.
Brant County’s proposal also includes exemptions for agricultural lands.
The Town of Ajax introduced its stormwater fee program in 2023 and anticipated collecting $2.7 million in revenue the first year.
Farmers that do currently pay these fees are seeing bills in the thousands of dollars.
Paul Doner, a farmer in Richmond Hill, was asked to pay almost $15,000 in stormwater fees in 2022 despite not being connected to a municipal water system.
“It’s just not fair,” he told the Richmond Hill Liberal in September 2022.
If municipalities must consider alternative ways to generate revenue, then so be it, because farmers shouldn’t pay for services they aren’t benefitting from, Skelly says.
“It’s an unfair tax. It would be like being taxed to fly on an airplane, but you don’t fly anywhere,” she said. “Smaller communities may have to get creative because they have smaller tax bases, but it’s incredulous to tax people for something they don’t use.”
Exempting all residents who don’t have access to stormwater services from the associated fees is the ultimate goal, Skelly says.
“The farmland exemption is the first step,” she said.
Skelly says her motion has received support from opposition parties and the ag community.
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) is among those in favour of Skelly’s motion.
Farmers already contribute to ditch management and over municipal work through property taxes.
An additional fee, especially for an item that doesn’t provide benefits to those who pay it, is impractical, said Drew Spoelstra, president of the OFA.
“It’s a punitive tax,” he told Farms.com. “Most farms across Ontario aren’t part of a stormwater system that requires massive upgrades, so why are we paying for it?. Our drainage comes through rivers and streams that aren’t being maintained.”
The OFA will continue to support Skelly’s motion once the Ontario legislature resumes, Spoelstra added.
The OFA published its stance on water and drainage issues across the province.