Residents of Metro Vancouver can expect to see utility fees hiked by 23 per cent in the coming years as the regional district carries out a number of pricy infrastructure projects.

By 2018, the average $725,000 home is forecast to see annual levies for garbage, sewer and water jump from the current combined total of $418 up to $516, according to a five-year financial projection.

The higher fees will help fund projects such as the Seymour-Capilano Filtration Project, Coquitlam’s Ultraviolet Disinfection Facility, and a pair of underground tunnels to transport filtered water south of the Fraser River to Surrey.

“These are expensive projects,” North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto said. “Great quality drinking water has to be paid for.”

Mussatto said the filtration plant alone is expected to cost $800 million, and the disinfection facility is budgeted at another $100 million.

To pay for the upgrades, water fees are projected to rise from $147 this year to $189 in 2018, while liquid waste levies are set to jump from $171 to $216. Solid waste is expected to hike just $6 to $66 over the same period.

Apart from the increases, Metro Vancouver mayors are banking on a surge in composting to reduce the amount of household garbage, resulting in lower tipping fees.

“If we can get that kitchen waste, those compostables out, that means less that has to be landfilled, less that has to go to our incinerator in Burnaby, which means that we are able to save a little bit there,” Mussatto said.

Not all the mayors are on board with the fee hikes, arguing the regional district should be looking to other solutions first.

Delta Mayor Lois Jackson said Metro Vancouver should consider liquidating assets such as Ashcroft ranch, which was once slated to become a landfill before failing to receive environmental certification.

“Why are we dealing with cows and sheep and as an asset when there’s no way that would be used as a garbage site?” Jackson asked.

“It would seem to me that we should be divesting ourselves of the ranch and using it for the utility.”

With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Jon Woodward