Saskatoon city council votes for curbside organic pickup to begin in 2023

Saskatoon city council voted Monday to defer the start date ofa curbside organics program in the city to 2023.

City administration made a report on the program after the recent collapse of a proposed "pay as you throw" (PAYT) system, which would have seen Saskatoon homeowners pay for the pickup of garbage and organics through user fees.

The new proposal willsee the program funded by property tax increases.

Council considered three options for a launch date: 2020, 2023 and 2027. It decided on the middle option.

Under the 2023 plan, property taxes would increase over several years, rather than a one-time hike. People in Saskatoon will see a one per cent increase over three years for the program, starting in 2020.

Some councillors said the accepted plan isn't going far enough, fast enough. The City of Saskatoon's goal has long been to divert 70 per cent of waste away from the landfill, but the diversion rate continues to lag.

Middle ground

Councillor Mairin Loewen originally voted in favour of an organics pickup program that would begin in 2020, characterized as the "aggressive" option by administration.

After the motion was defeated, she and a majority of councillors voted for the second-most aggressive option.

"We'retrying to strike a balance here between delivering the service as quickly as possible and softening the financial impact to residents and that makes sense to me," she said

"But wherever possible I would like to have the shortest gap between beginning to pay and actually seeing something for your money."

She added that quicker implementation would bring othersavings to the city. The landfill has provento be a big expenseand waste diverted from it would save the city money in the long term.

Troy Davies was the only councillororiginally in favour of the 2023 option that was eventually passed. It's a middle ground between what Loewen was championingand the 2027 favoured by others like Ann Iwanchuk.

In addition to the tax increase that comes with the organics program, council discussed using the federal gas tax to fund the program.

The city is expecting double the gas tax this yearand voted to allocate it to the front-end costs associated with the program, so as not to put those costs on taxpayers.

The target of 70 per cent waste diversion from the landfill is still in place for 2023, the same year organics pickup is set to begin.