Illegal dumping crackdown should be permanent: staff

City staff are recommending spending $240,000 annually to make an illegal dumping enforcement crackdownpermanent.

Project Trash Talk has been renewed twice since it was launched as a pilot projectin April 2012. It is set to end in December.

These increased fines are serving as an effective deterrent to illegal dumping.- Report

"In staff's opinion, it has been concluded that pro-active enforcement is continuing to have a positive effect on the problem of illegal dumping across the city," a cityreport reads. "Continued effort is required to sustain the current level of success."

The staff report from Planning and Economic Development Department general manager Jason Thorne and Public Works general manager Gerry Davis will be reviewed at the general issues committee Wednesday. In it, they say the number of complaints about illegal dumping on city and private properties dropped to 6,500 in 2014 from7,500 the previous year.

There were 1250 complaints in the first four months of this year.

The three new positions would be paid for out of the public works and economic development budgets.

As part of the program, student employees sat in unmarked vans and watched for people dumping anything from couches to construction materials in parks, alleys or along roads. Since the start of the program, more than 140 charges have been laid and the city has recovered $25,000 in costs, the report said.

"The courts are now imposing substantially higher fines because of the impact that illegal dumping has on the community," the report said, noting recent court fines have ranged from $1,300 to $3,000.

"These increased fines are serving as an effective deterrent to illegal dumping."

Eastendcouncillor Sam Merulla said he has been advocating from the very beginning to make the project permanent and the $240,000 price tag each year is not too much.

"When you look at the cost of sending out crews to clean up, it's a fraction of the cost," Merulla said in an interview Monday. "It is an investment."

He said the fact complaints are also down speaks to the success of the project.

"No news is good news," he said.