Skip to content

City fixes little water fee mistake

Special meeting of Salmon Arm Council passes change following small spreadsheet problem.
9631145_web1_Dalziel-Monica-for-gps
Monica Dalziel

It was a tiny error – a drop in the bucket, really – but an error that had to remedied nonetheless.

Salmon Arm Council held a special meeting Monday, Dec. 4 to pass a fee-for-service amendment bylaw, addressing a problem that had added – and subtracted – a few cents from water user fees.

Monica Dalziel, the city’s chief financial officer, explains that when city council passed the bylaw allowing a 3.5 per cent increase in water fees, those fees cannot vary above or below 3.5 per cent. However, the spreadsheet formula that was used in the finance department was rounding off the numbers in several classifications.

“Believe it or not, five cents on a rate could make it a 4.55 per cent increase,” she says.

Dalziel points out that in one instance, $135.69 became $136. In another, $270.95 became $271.

When the error was discovered, the spreadsheet was recalculated and the formula adjusted to the nearest nickel.

This means the revised annual increase to a residential user jumped a whopping 14 cents – from $8.10 to $8.24.

“It was a very good learning opportunity for my department without dire consequence,” Dalziel said, explaining the mistake was caught before it was entered into the system and the bills were generated.

For city coffers, fixing the problem resulted in an extra $700.



Martha Wickett

About the Author: Martha Wickett

came to Salmon Arm in May of 2004 to work at the Observer. I was looking for a change from the hustle and bustle of the Lower Mainland, where I had spent more than a decade working in community newspapers.
Read more