Municipalities have the jurisdiction to establish municipal services and the ability to set fees associated with those services.
Council may, by bylaw, establish a public utility service and set any rates, charges, tolls, fares or rents for the service including the lease or sale of equipment, fittings, equipment, meters or other things needed to deliver the service to consumers. Each municipality sets its own rates or fees based on its costs of providing the service. The Saskatchewan Municipal Board approves the rates, charges, tools or rents contained in a utility rate bylaw.
In situations where public utility accounts and services go unpaid, The Municipalities Act empowers a municipality with several options to collect the unpaid fees:
- It may stop providing the public utility service;
- It may add a lien on land or collection by distress (sale of goods to satisfy amounts payable for the provision of service);
- It may add unpaid charges for the provided service to the land's property taxes.