by Kathy Johnson
The Municipality of Barrington is contemplating switching to a user-fee pay system at the C&D Landfill near Goose Lake, as opposed to operating the facility from general tax revenues.
Clerk/treasurer Brian Holland made the pitch to councillors at the committee of the whole meeting on Feb. 15.
"What I'm proposing is we take this out of general tax revenues and recover the costs at the landfill," said Holland. "If the C&D Landfill was funded by user fees instead of through the general tax rate it would reduce the tax rate by two or three cents."
As it is now, tipping fees are only charged to people using the facility who are not residents of the Municipality of Barrington or the Town of Clark's Harbour. The town pays the municipality a yearly fee to use the landfill, which also realizes revenue from the sale of scrap materials such as metals and wood products, as well as diversion credits paid by the Resource Refund Recovery Board (RRFB).
In 2009, the net operating costs for the landfill was $90,000, said Holland, an increase of 36.6 percent from 2008 ($57,000). The primarily reason, said Holland is the amount of mixed waste received at the site, which increases labour costs and decreases diversion credits.
Holland is proposing the municipality impose tipping fees for all users starting April 1 that would be comparable to what other C&D landfills in the area charge.
"If you use it you pay for it," said Holland.
A minimum fee of two dollars could be set for residents disposing a small load of materials, said Holland, with tonnage fees of $60 for sorted waste and $100 for unsorted waste charged to large scale users such as contractors.
While council seemed somewhat in favor of implementing user fees, they questioned how the change might impact illegal dumping in the area, agreeing to "sleep on the tipping fees issue."
The municipality is also pursuing the possibility of constructing a public sorting station at the C&D Landfill. While part-funding is available from the RRFB to construct the building, tenders have come in above budget.
The municipality is going back to the drawing board to see if costs can be reduced, before deciding whether or not to re-tender the project.
Barrington considering landfill fees
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Published on
February 20, 2010
- Published on February 23, 2010
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Kathy Johnson/The
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