Saskatoon city council to vote on waste utility and 'Pay as You Throw' system Monday

Saskatoon city councillors will vote Monday on whether to create a new waste utility that would charge customers for curbside collection based on usage.

The proposed new garbage collection system would consist of bi-weekly organics and waste collectionand would be funded as a utility instead of with property taxes.

The changes are among measures being considered to increase composting and recycling in the city and, in the long-term, try toeliminate the need for a new landfill.

Plan includes fee estimates

Customers would pay flat rates for garbage collection based on the size of their bin, with a choice of three bin sizes ranging from 180 litres to 360 litres.

Exact fees have not yet been decided, but city reports estimate customers would pay about $18 monthly for the small bin, $20-$24.50 for the medium-sized bin, and $23 to $36.20 for the large bins.

According to the city, the change would reduce the property tax by about 3.5 per cent.

Solving a financial problem

Some councillors have already expressed reluctance to vote forthe program, citing worries about the cost to taxpayers, ability to payand a lack of information.

Ward 7 councillor Mairin Loewen, who wants councillors to vote in favour of the utility, said on Sunday she thinks the plan is the best way to address an annual shortfall in funding waste management.

She does not believe it is necessary to defer the discussion to budget deliberations, as some councillors have suggested, because exact fees would not be decided until that timeanyway.

"There are a lot of variables, there are a lot of adjustments that council could decide to make and in the context of a very busy budget debate I don't think that that gives the due consideration and scrutiny that this issue requires," said Loewen.

Loewen said she thinks council needs to move quickly to avoid a minimumtwo per cent increase on property taxes in 2019 to fund the waste shortfall.

Ward 8 Councillor Sarina Gersher also supports the waste utility plan.

"I think that information needs to be clearly given to council and to residents so that we're making an informed decision," said Gersher.

"I think a waste utility and an organics program is the best way to get us to that, to solving the underfunding issue.

"I think the financial cost in choosing property tax will be substantially more but that will be discussed on Monday and presented by administration with the waste report."