The Town of Smithers is looking at changing its senior utility discounts, specifically around water and sewer fees.
This was brought up at the January 13th meeting and would bring the current self-declared full exemption to a 50 per cent discount based on Canada Revenue Agency Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) income thresholds.
It would put the upper eligibility for the program at $30,216 for single seniors and $41,472 for senior couples.
“In transitioning to this newer model, we picked higher thresholds which is consistent with what Port Coquitlam and Nanaimo have been administering in this process,” said Kevin Walsh, Director of Finance.
Councillor Frank Wray expressed worry about providing residents who had been using the discount advance notice about the change before it took effect.
“It is a large change in one year so there is going to be a whole bunch of people that have been claiming it every year for whatever reason that won’t be able to anymore,” said Wray.
Welsh added about 73 people claimed the exemption in 2025 and staff have written letters to each person acknowledging the upcoming change.
The program changes past first three readings during that meeting, and will be considered for adoption at tomorrow (Tuesday) night’s meeting.
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