City administration proposes a price reduction for residential bulk collection

By Amos Johnson and Mirjana Janekovic

Administration is recommending reducing fees from $20 to $10 to increase use of the bulk collection program.

“There is a significant risk that should the user fee not be adjusted, the program will result in a surplus, and the participation will remain low,” said the report.

“This could result in minimal impact on illegal dumping.”

In 2017, council approved curbside bulk collection service, charging $20 per item. Council also suggested aministration consider options for financially supporting the user fee for low-income residents.

The net overall budget in 2018 would remain at the same level approved in 2017 if councillors agree to the reduced fee.

“The loss in revenue created by the reduced user fee would be offset by a surplus in contracted service and tipping fee costs,” said the report. “There is no budgetary impact to the reduced user fee overall.”

There have 362 requests for the bulk collection service since it launched in June of 2017, of which 267 homes received collection. In total, 349 items were collected, equating to 18.4 tonnes.