Whereas many British Columbia municipalities invoice strata corporations directly for the collection of utility services fees; And whereas billing individual strata property owners directly for utility services fees would have significant financial administrative implications for these municipalities: Therefore be it resolved that the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing be respectfully requested to take forward to the Legislative Assembly amendments to the Community Charter and Strata Property Act to afford municipalities the option of imposing utility services fees on either strata councils or on individual strata lot owners.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing User-fees are based on a fee for service transaction. In these transactions, form follows function. That is, the party that receives the service directly from the municipality e.g. a utility service, is usually the party that pays the fee. Some utility services are provided to the building as a whole, for example water through a single meter, which is then distributed to the individual units. In this example, it makes most sense for the municipality to levy a bulk fee on the building as a whole e.g. billed to a strata corporation. The strata corporation may then allocate the costs in an equitable manner to the individual units in the building as part of its normal strata fees. Other utility services may be provided directly to individual units within a building, for example, some strata properties are constructed with utility meters for each unit. In these cases, the municipality may bill each unit directly for usage. Therefore, if form follows function, a municipality should set the form of its billing including who is the billing party based on the function of service delivery i.e. direct service to an entire building or to an individual unit.