| Committee of the Whole | Wednesday, November 3, 2010 - 2:00 pm | Download PDF (65Kb) |
- Reserve Fund Framework – Presentation by David Sewell, General Manager, Finance
| Board of Directors | Wednesday, November 3, 2010 - 4:00 pm | Download PDF (3.24MB) |
- Staff report dated October 25, 2010 RECOMMENDATION 18 Page 095
(Weighted Stakeholder Vote – Includes All) That Recycling and Disposal Fees for regular refuse be increased from $75 per tonne to $85 per tonne starting in January 2011; And further, that $5 per tonne of the increase be dedicated to a sustaining capital reserve; $5 per tonne of the increase be dedicated to the statutory Landfill Closure/Post Closure Reserve Fund; and Surplus in revenue at the end of 2011 be dedicated to a solid waste management operating reserve; And further, that the minimum tipping fee be increased from $3 per tonne to $4 per tonne starting in January 2011; And further, that the values projected from 2012 to 2020 are provided for information only.
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Don Quixote Note: There are no details provided for the Reserve policy Framework presentation at 2 PM. There is a reference to it on P.97 of the 4PM meeting re the Recycle and Disposal Fee item:
"The RDNO reserve policy has yet to be finalized, however, it may be necessary to further divide what is shown as the capital reserve in the table above into three specific funds : operating reserve, sustaining reserve and expansion reserve.
Tipping fees were increased in July 2010 from $63 to $75 (19%) per tonne and Garbage fees in Vernon were increased. In Vernon a quarterly charge for Garbage went up to $24.12 (25%) from $19.23 and recycling increased from $5.50 to $8.28 (50%) for residential single family service. Business Garbage fees were increased by about 5% from $71.43 to $75 per quarter.
This proposed change from $75 to $85 is a 13.5% increase. What effect this will have on your garbage and recycle rates will have to be determined.
4 comments:
One of the proposals promoted by Regional staff is to have mandatory garbage collection extended to Coldstream. Vernon’s system is used as a potential format where collection is made weekly with a maximum limit of two bags per household per week.
My objection to this system is that a flat rate of garbage collection goes against the principle of user pay. Let me explain it.
We all by the garbage we dispose. Obviously, when a single person goes shopping for his/her self the amount of garbage purchased is going to be less than what a family of five would purchase. The purchase price of this difference will appear on the bill.
My question is this: why should the bill for the disposal of that garbage be the same for the single individual as it is for the family of five? This system punishes the low garbage producer.
It is now clear that garbage fees are increasing (see fees). It should be important that in the future all jurisdictions institute a user pay system to be fair to all customers. Low garbage producers should not be subsidizing high producers. If a reasonable access fee is adopted by NORD and then each bag destined for the disposal facility is tagged I will be the first one to recommend universal collection.
Why have a reasonable access fee? It is because the service is available to everyone. Everybody produces garbage, to be able to dispose it is the fee imposed as access fee. The actual user fee then provides for the different volumes produced by different users.
We seem to have turned a corner on the way we separate our regular refuse from articles we can recycle, what about vegetable/fruit waste that can all go to compost? How many pumpkins after Halloween end up in garbage bins at curbside rather than in compost. There should always be inducements to the reduction of true garbage....less garbage should be less cost.
Compostables are also being addressed by NORD.
Coldstreamer, your argument against universal collection is tiresome, you still offer no other solutions, and apparently you are still keen on a system "access" fee, which runs completely counter to your "user pay" argument (!), because that fee would be charged, regardless of whether and how much garbage a person produces!
How about supporting a more innovative idea such as the purchase of special garbage bags, that you can choose to put out on a weekly, or bi-weekly, or even less frequent basis.
You choose how many bags you need to purchase, and you choose the frequency of pick-up.
Produce as little or as much garbage as you like, the amount you are charged to dispose of your garbage is directly related to how much you produce.
Simple, done.
That would give us a regional USER PAY system that those who live in Vernon, the largest user group currently paying the City's (increased by 25% this July!) quarterly charges, would surely LOVE to see.
And yes, I am still waiting for anyone to enlighten me on what basis did the City of Vernon raise our recycling rates 50% this year??? Don Quixote, any thoughts?
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