Multi-unit waste fee proposal pushed to budget process

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This article was published 08/10/2021 (1623 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A proposed $44-per-unit annual waste diversion fee for apartment and condo dwellers is teetering on the edge of the trash can.

On Friday, Winnipeg council’s water and waste committee cast a 3-1 vote to refer the suggested multi-family building fee to the 2022 budget process, rejecting a city staff call to act on it now.

While council will have the final say on the matter, water and waste chairman Coun. Brian Mayes told the Free Press he doesn’t expect there’s enough political support to get it passed.

“Speaking personally, I don’t see a path where that’s going to get approved — but all budgets are compromises, so we’ll see where that goes,” said Mayes.

The councillor said the budget referral would trigger discussions on how to make up for the expected fee revenue, which was meant to help eliminate solid waste department deficits.

Winnipeg water and waste director Moira Geer said the fee aims to make waste collection charges equitable among all who use the service.

Currently, those living in single-family homes, as well as those living in buildings with seven units or less, pay a waste diversion fee of $66 per year. Those in buildings with eight units or more aren’t charged, Geer noted.

“Only part of the customer base that receives the services is actually paying that fee,” she said.

The new multi-family fee would raise an estimated $4.25 million in 2023.

“We are trying to make (solid waste) a more sustainable operation (since) we’re projecting deficits,” said Geer.

The department expects a shortfall of about $3.5 million in 2021, $1 million in 2022, and $1.8 million in 2023.

However, one apartment resident said the belief the new fee would achieve equity is deeply flawed.

“The idea of increasing the burden of cost on to renters, I think, is anything but (equity)… (If you) look at renters, they disproportionately are made up of lower income individuals or families,” said Shannon Furness.

Furness said $44 can make a notable difference to that group. “Renters are disproportionately living paycheck to paycheck.”

Mayes said he believes it would be fairer to use property tax revenues to cover garbage costs.

“That way people with (more expensive) properties would pay a bit more and people with lesser valued properties would pay a bit less,” he said.

The committee did approve a call to let the water and waste director offer reduced tipping fees to commercial waste-hauling businesses (to better compete with other landfills), as well as a recommendation to create a $1,200 annual fee for small commercial customers to use 4R Winnipeg depots.

If council approves, those changes would occur next year. The diversion fee was proposed to begin Jan. 1, 2023.

Coun. Shawn Nason said he believed all of the recommendations should have been referred to the budget process, as councillors lack much information about the department’s finances.

“One of my concerns was the lack of transparency,” the Transcona councillor said, adding few details were offered on waste-hauling contracts, as well as the city’s 10-year financial waste management plan.

That plan has been completed but not released publicly.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga