Metro Vancouver households will pay an average of $75 per month for regional utilities like water, waste and sewage, next year, according to a press release published on Halloween night.

That works out to $897 for the year, on average — a 2.5 per cent increase from last year’s $875 charge.

“We understand the pressure residents are feeling from rising costs,” Mike Hurley, Chair of the Metro Vancouver Boards, said in a statement announcing the new fees.

“We identified more than $360 million in operational savings over the next five years, substantially reducing costs for ratepayers across the region,” Hurley said.

The savings came from deferring costs by reducing and delaying a number of capital spending projects, according to the release.

Lis Muri, a councillor for the District of N

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