The City of Windsor wants to investigate what went wrong with some residents' stormwater bills.
Some residents have been posting on social media that their ENWIN bills are $200 more than what they should be.
Mayor Drew Dilkens says following changes made to the city's stormwater financing, their bills should not be reflecting a $200 increase if no changes have been made in the household.
City council approved a new stormwater fee system in 2024 that would charge properties based on how much of their land can't absorb water - like parking lots or paved areas - since those create more runoff into the sewer system. Previously, non-residential properties like malls and big box stores were paying less than homeowners.
The city offered rebates in 2025 after many homeowners ended up with higher bills than expected when the new system rolled out.
Dilkens says if there are homeowners receiving bills that still seem too high, the city will look to resolve any billing issues.
"If you give us authorization - all you have to do is call ENWIN - make that happen, and then email my office, we will dig into every single complaint and look at all the bills and do the comparisons because we made a commitment to people, and we are going to follow through on that commitment."
He says previously, businesses that were contributing a lot of stormwater to the system weren't paying for it.
"When it rains there's a lot of runoff from their business, from their property, that enters the stormwater system and you and I as homeowners were basically helping to offset the cost of their water management. We said 'there has to be a fairer way', and out of this, residential consumers should see a discount in the amount that they pay for stormwater financing."
Dilkens says the city hasn't heard many complaints since the issue was resolved in 2025.
"The implementation between the city and ENWIN, it got messed up, and I went very publicly and said this was not how it was supposed to be, and we are going to make it right. And people started seeing the credits on their bill within a few months, and we did make it right as we committed to do. Once we made that commitment, and once we made it right, almost like a cliff the calls fell off."
Those who have provided the city authorization through ENWIN will need to email the mayor's office at mayoro@citywindsor.ca so the bill can be reviewed.
The new system splits the previous sewer surcharges into a wastewater and stormwater line item on bills from ENWIN, so properties with large amounts of impervious surfaces pay more based on the amount of water that ends up in the stormwater system.
-with files from AM800's The Kyle Horner Show