Water and sewer rates are going up 6% in Moose Jaw and by 50% at 15 Wing.

As budget talks continue City Council made those decisions Monday night, just weeks after announcing that rural water customers would face a 50% increase of their own in 2019.

The motions came as City Council tries to cover the funds needed for infrastructure work around the city. The increases for 15 Wing and rural customers are aimed to cover the 2% tax increase that urban users have been paying.

Following a closed door meeting, Councillor Brian Swanson spoke to the item in open council.

"If as a council we feel there is insufficient funds in the water utility, we do have an option of directing funds from the operating budget to there, but the bottom line at the end of the day is we are still significantly short," said Swanson.

Councillor Dawn Luhning showed her frustration during the debate.

"I'm having a little difficulty understanding why this gets more and more difficult every time we have this discussion," expressed Luhning. "There was no comment from you Mr. Swanson about 'no that's not right, that's not what I'm saying." 

Swanson was against the idea of using the fees to offset the tax increase, saying the utility needs every dollar they can get.

"Our water utility is under funded. My motion was very clear; you increase water rates (and) the money goes into the water utility, not to reduce how much we take from the operating budget into the water utility. We need to be taking way more into the water utility," explained Swanson.

Councillor Chris Warren also added into the heated conversation saying if they had addressed the situation during the previous year's budget talks, there may have been less frustration. 

"In a perfect world we would have reviewed this outside water rate last year. The reality is that last year when we decreased the water rate increase," said Warren "It was not an accurate reflection of what we were charging our to our external water users. They got a lower rate, but the citizens had to pay more on their property taxes."

In the end, councillors agreed to increase all rates by a vote of 6-1. Council also passed a motion to increase urban water and sewer rates by 6%.