NO REASON TO HIKE FEES
The nice thing about Canada is that there’s a division of responsibility between our three levels of government. City council, for instance, doesn’t have to worry about defence — that’s federal jurisdiction. Nor does it have to concern itself with education — that duty falls to the provincial government.
What city council does have to manage is garbage collection and recycling. On that file, Calgarians can be disappointed.
The implementation of the green cart program was years in the making, and now — surprise, surprise — taxpayers are being told oncea-week pickup isn’t necessary in winter. Surely, it should have been obvious to council, and the people they employ to oversee the recycling of organic material, that usage would be less in cold weather, when people aren’t mowing their lawns and recycling other garden waste.
It seems to have come as a surprise to the city that all most households can manage to deposit in their green bins is a lonely small bag of waste. Nonetheless, huge vehicles are dispatched to flip over the burdensome carts, many of which are empty and left to languish in alleyways.
The city, as it appears poised to do, should move to twice-monthly pickup of green bins in winter, just as it has done all year round with the black carts that are used to tote trash that’s non-organic and non-recyclable.
Sadly, though, the discussion about reducing the frequency of green bin collection isn’t the only matter involving garbage that’s taking up councillors’ time.
A city committee will consider Wednesday shifting the balance between what homeowners pay for black bin collection and how much is taken from general taxes. The proposal would emphasize monthly user fees and draw less from the property taxes that Calgarians contribute.
As is typical, there’s no gain in this for Calgarians. It’s estimated the scheme could force households to pay up to $5 more a month.
Frankly, picking up trash — whether it’s contained in black, green or blue bins — shouldn’t occupy so much of council’s time. Collecting waste is what the city does, just as it provides policing and parks. But if it is going to fiddle about with where the money comes from for waste management, it must ensure there’s no increase to taxpayers.
Indeed, some councillors have raised the idea of privatizing the service to save money. Others have said the budgeting shenanigans should result in not only no tax increase, but instead a reduction.
Let’s hope such reasoned views carry the day and that council realizes Calgarians have had enough with higher costs.