Charlottetown councillor moves to axe pesticide 'tax grab'

Charlottetown Coun. Bob Doiron believesthe $50 fee residents have to pay to apply to spray their lawn with banned pesticides isn't fair.

The fee is part of the new pesticide bylaw. It pays for a city technician to confirm a diagnosis of an infestation made by a professional lawn care company.

At Monday night's council meeting,Doiron put in a notice for a motion at the next council meeting to vote to get rid of the fee.

"I've asked for their support on this to stop this tax grab against the city residents and that's all I can do," said Doiron.

"I'm not going to go to each and every one, I know there's certain people that don't believe in this, some that do. I'm just putting it on the floor to see that council hopefully in their wisdom would look at this and say this is unneeded."

Doironwants to see the second inspection by a city official eliminated. He told CBC News the lawn care companies have the necessary expertise and don't need the city looking over their shoulders. He'd also like to see the fees already collected refunded to residents.

The next council meeting will be Oct. 10.

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