Barrie City Council recently passed its 2015 budget without funding for front-end garbage collection. But that doesn’t mean Mayor Jeff Lehman’s motion to add the service has been thrown out. Multi-residential property owners could still see the city start providing or rebating front-end garbage collection this fall.
Council has requested additional information before it makes a final decision. In particular, Coun. Michael Prowse has asked for the annualized costs of staff’s preferred implementation plan as well as the plan’s implications. One outstanding question is whether the plan could lead to future requests from the commercial, institutional and industrial sectors to access the rebate or service.
Proceeding with either option will require council’s endorsement after city staff report back to general committee on July 1 with the requested information and their preferred implementation plan.
A March 2 staff memo offered hints as to what the preferred implementation plan might look like. In it, staff recommended that the city wait until its pilot multi-residential source separated organics program is fully rolled out before considering providing front-end garbage collection to multi-residential properties. Staff also noted a preference for service over a rebate, citing opportunities to reduce administration, gain greater control over waste management and further promote waste diversion.
In the same memo, staff recommended that, if the city goes the rebate route, the rebate take the form of an annual refund capped at $21.53 per multi-residential unit. Based on discussions with building owners and managers, staff estimated that private collection costs start around $14 and go as high as $32 per multi-residential unit.
In recommending a program, Environmental Services will consider factors such as the service transition from private contracts and the experiences of other municipalities.
A survey conducted by city staff found that Halton, Ottawa and Peel provide front-end collection without issue. The survey also found that Simcoe and Cornwall offer rebates, with Simcoe endorsing them and Cornwall identifing issues including the disincentive to increase waste diversion.
That 11 of 18 municipalities surveyed either provided the service or offered a rebate indicated to Mayor Lehman that Barrie needs to take action one way or the other.
“To me, the results of that survey reinforced that it’s more common than not to address this issue of double paying, and that most of our peer municipalities have already done something about it,” he said.
Mayor Lehman proposed the adding front-end garbage collection service as a matter of fairness to condo owners.
Currently, Barrie offers only curbside garbage collection. Due to their configuration, many multi-residential properties require front-end garbage collection. Condo owners still pay toward the city’s program through their property taxes, with the average residential property tax bill including $82 for Environmental Services. They also pay toward private collection through their maintenance fees.
It amounts to “paying double,” according to petitions the city has received from local condo owners.
Gary Lyon is a director at the Bayclub, one of the condo corporations that has petitioned Barrie to address the issue. Lyon said he will support whichever option between service and a rebate comes at a lower cost to the city. Although “encouraged” by the latest development, he acknowledged that the move still faces a final hurdle.
If Mayor Lehman’s efforts are successful, Lehman will be pressing for an Oct. 1 rollout of the front-end garbage collection service or rebate.
“It’s not over yet, but at least we’re moving in the right direction and it sounds like there’s some good information and it’s feasible,” he said, “so given all that, I need to win one more vote, but I’m hopeful.”
Michelle Ervin is the editor of CondoBusiness.
