City staff and council have started 2017 budget deliberations. Water, sewer and solid-waste collection are core services that have been presented to council, part of the 2017 budget deliberations.
At a financial plan presentation on January 12, the city finance committee’s early findings identified that “solid-waste collections and disposal requires an increase in user fees to be a ‘true user-pay’ system and to recognize a new service level.”
City staff have coined the new phrase “true user-pay,” not unlike US president Donald Trump’s alternative facts.
Previous councils explained the garbage tag fee as a user-paid fee to cover the tipping cost only, therefore there was a direct correlation to amount of solid waste each household produced. It was also suggested that the tag fees would create an incentive to reduce the amount of solid waste.
The recently created terminology provided in the January 12 presentation explains the new terminology as a guiding principle to “ensure property owners pay only for those services they have the potential to receive.”
I would suggest this is a politically stretched justification.
The truth is that the current garbage tag system will not work with the proposed future collection system, nothing to do with terminology, and the initiative to expand curb service is required to support the procurement of auto-loading trucks (double the size and double the cost), and not from an overwhelming outcry from taxpayers for organic-waste curb collection.
Too often, revised terminology is used to deflect from the major issue, that the budgeted increase from 2016 to 2107 is 36.4 per cent for solid-waste collection.
This, unfortunately, is only the tip of the financial iceberg with the expanded curb service to include organic/yard waste. There will be an additional (un-budgeted) cost of approximately $1 million for additional bins, according to a staff report dated July 5, 2016. Other potential costs yet to be verified include total operators, trucks and processing facility for organic waste.
The January 12 presentation estimates that the proposed organic collection trail will pick up 2.4 pounds per household per week, using a 360-litre (approximately four-foot high) bin for each household.
The other irritant is the taxman double dipping. Proposed is the additional fee for all households being incorporated in the 2017 tax invoice, while at the same time all residents will be forced to continue with the garbage tag usage fees throughout 2017.
Why should we, the taxpayers, be concerned? The concern is that our representatives, councillors, are not able or willing to hold staff to account through effective review of staff proposals.
Paul McMahon is a resident of Powell River.
