High River water and waste water rates were a topic of discussion at Town Council on Tuesday afternoon, and looks like they'll be hiring an external contractor to figure it all out.

Mayor Craig Snodgrass says the $60,000  they're paying to have the review done is a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things and it needs to be done sooner than later.

"We need to get this done before Spitzee Crossing, that's another 13,000 people that are going to be out there not after their in. We have money for this, it's in a reserve fund for water and waste water infrustructure. the sixty thousand dollar touch, let's just get it done so we know what we're playing with here."

While Mayor Craig Snodgrass says they have the money in reserve for this not everyone is buying into the idea.

Councillor Emile Blokland says they already have the information they need to conduct the review.

"Over my years on council we have spent a lot of money on studies of different natures and a lot of them get shelved in the back room. Most of that knowledge we own, and I don't think we need to pay somebody to do it. Having said that, Council has decided to go that route and I look forward to the final report, and we will make decisions on water and sewer rates accordingly."

Blokland says he hopes the report generates some useful information they don't already have.

Snodgrass says there's just too much going on around town to do it themselves.

"They (Town Council & Staff) got the capability they don't have the time. We're still dealing with a massive amount of flood issues and big developments like Spitzee Crossing, a lot of work is still being done to get the Hampton's moving forward, a lot of work with Red Tail Rise and of course all the downtown stuff."

He says 60% of High River water goes to Cargill and 7%  goes to other places like Caily and Aldersyde leaving 33%  for High River.

He says that currently High River residents pay less for water than other communities in Alberta.