In Ontario, Ramara ratepayers sue township to stop 8% water, 15% wastewater hikes

A legal fight is taking shape in a Canadian township, as ratepayers seek to block steep increases in municipal water and sewage bills. 

Here's what to know

According to OrilliaMatters, the Brechin Lagoon City Area Ratepayers Equity (BLARE) Group has gone to the Superior Court of Justice to challenge Ramara Township's 2025 water and wastewater rates bylaw. The application also asks the court to stop the township from collecting charges under that bylaw.

Ryan Matson, Ramara's director of corporate services/legal, said the township has received notice of the legal challenge and will respond through its court filings. He added that the municipality cannot comment further while the case is before the court, per OrilliaMatters. 

In its court application, BLARE says Ramara's water and wastewater charges are among the highest in the province. According to the township, 1,366 residents are connected to the area's municipal wastewater service, but it did not say how those users are split between its two systems.

BLARE's filing lists 1,200 connections for Brechin and Lagoon City and 350 for Bayshore Village.

BLARE also says the township was not transparent when it changed its fee structure in 2017. The group further argues that the current high charges are tied to a $24-million tile bed project serving only existing Bayshore Village users.

Under the bylaw, BLARE estimates rates will increase by 270% between 2025 and 2033. By then, a household with the smallest meter would pay $3,165.52 in fixed annual fees alone, plus $11.77 per 264 gallons (1 cubic meter) used. 

Russel Cole, a Lagoon City homeowner and co-organizer of a 2024 community forum on water and sewer rates, said the increases "came by surprise." 

"Council has failed us," he added.

More background

The conflict stretches back over a decade. Before 2011, Ramara divided wastewater rates based on the separate needs of its two systems: one serving Brechin and Lagoon City, and the other serving Bayshore Village. By 2010, the Bayshore Village sewer system needed repairs.

At the center of BLARE's case is its claim that Brechin and Lagoon City users are being charged for infrastructure they "are not or will not receive" the benefits from. As an example, the group has pointed to the tile bed project, describing it as an expensive, $24 million solution that merely maintains current wastewater capacity for Bayshore Village rather than expanding it.

Marg Sharpe, a Bayshore Village resident who was elected Ward 2 councillor in 2014, disagrees with BLARE's argument. She said the township was clear about rising rates at the time's public meetings. 

"We were given all the information that they could give us. We knew what was coming," she added, per OrilliaMatters. 

Sharpe further argued that the system's financial pressures stem from more than a single project. She said the township's aging infrastructure needs work and that her household began budgeting differently as rates climbed.

What's being done?

BLARE says it spent 10 months preparing its court application. The group hired Loopstra Nixon LLP, the same legal counsel residents used in an earlier case that ended with Ramara Township being found to have acted in bad faith and later in contempt of a court order, according to OrilliaMatters. 

The township's next formal step is to file its response, with the case scheduled to be heard June 15, 2027. 

Meanwhile, some residents have been proposing alternative solutions. Sharpe said Ramara should focus on adding more users to its municipal systems, including through affordable housing development. With more users, the cost of repairs and infrastructure improvements would be spread across more ratepayers.

She also noted that the Brechin wastewater system is due for repairs in 2032, warning that costs could be even higher by then.

Cole, the Lagoon City homeowner and organizer, called the effort "disruptive and costly" for the whole township, per OrilliaMatters. 

However, some blamed BLARE's legal challenge for further dividing the community and forcing officials to be less transparent because of the pending action. 

"We have great communities in this township…but when something like this comes up and they start pitting one community against another and blaming one, which is not true, you know…it just divides communities, instead of working together to try to get a solution to this issue," said Sharpe, as quoted by OrilliaMatters. 

Where can I learn more?

Ramara isn't the only place where residents are pushing back on rising water and wastewater costs. These stories cover rate hikes, sewer projects, and accountability fights from Illinois to South Carolina.

• In Illinois, residents joined a mayor in opposing a $142 million water hike that tripled some bills.

• In Delaware, PFAS treatment costs triggered sky-high water bill warnings and calls for relief.

• In Charleston, neighbors threatened legal action after raw sewage seeped into streets, raising federal concerns.

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