GUELPH – County council has approved an increase of more than 10 per cent to tipping fees at its waste facilities, despite reservations from some councillors who felt the public wasn’t given enough notice of the change.
Council approved the increase to $145 per tonne from $130 per tonne at its Jan. 30 meeting, with waste facilities to begin charging the higher fee on Feb. 1.
The short turnaround prompted councillor Earl Campbell to suggest a “friendly amendment” that would see the 11.5% increase delayed by two months.
Campbell said while he was “fully supportive of the rate increase. My issue, quite simply, is the fact that we’re doing it on two days’ notice.”
A report to the county’s solid waste services committee, included in the council agenda package, provided some background about the short notice.
Changes to county fee schedules are typically approved in November, but this past November staff did not initially recommend a tipping fee change, the report stated.
But following a review of fees in comparator municipalities, “it became clear that tipping fees are rising more quickly than anticipated,” and recommending an increase would be appropriate, it stated.
Because there are both municipal and private waste transfer stations within the county and the city, there is competition in the waste disposal market, the report stated.
Changing the fee can impact the county’s revenues, but while a higher fee might reduce revenues, it can also help preserve landfill capacity, it said.
While Campbell commended staff on the report and said he supports the increase, fellow councillor Jeff Duncan said it was not appropriate to increase the fee at all at this time.
Duncan expressed concern the fee primarily impacts the industrial and commercial sector, including homebuilders, and suggested the county’s landfill capacity does not necessarily need preserving.
“I personally would like to put a pause on it,” he said.
Councillor Matthew Bulmer had also suggested a pause of sorts, wondering if the more appropriate time to change the fee is in November, when the user fee bylaw is usually updated.
Manager of solid waste services Das Soligo attempted to address concerns about the short notice, saying the county has reached out to its solid waste services “account holders,” who are the ones most impacted by the tipping fees.
“We’ve issued notification to all account holders and advised them that, contingent on council approval, the fee will increase as of Feb. 1,” Soligo said.
ɫشýNorth Mayor Andy Lennox raised the issue of whether the increase to the fee was reflected in the budget, on which council was to vote later in the meeting.
Although no dollar figure was provided, the answer was, yes, there would be an impact on budgetary estimates.
Solid waste services committee chair councillor Steve O’Neill suggested it’s important to “keep up” with regular increases to avoid larger increases in the future.
“If we don’t keep up with it, next year in November, solid waste services could bring to the committee an increase of $25 a tonne maybe,” O’Neill said.
Council voted on Campbell’s amendment that would have delayed the fee increase to April 1, but with only five councillors voting in favour, the motion failed.
The Feb. 1 increase was ultimately approved.