Plenty of questions about trash plan

Here are some garbage questions for city hall:

How much is the budgetary garbage “shortfall?” Is it due to an expense overrun, revenue shortfall or both? Have the previous eight consecutive shortfalls been for the same reason(s), and if so, was the budgeting process for this line item changed from year to year? If not, why not? Have these “shortfalls” been covered by property tax increases levied for other proposed services?

Per city news releases, residential trash is 33 per cent of all trash taken to the landfill (81,246 out of 247,095 tonnes, of which eight per cent is “actual” garbage and 14 per cent is organics).

How does the city expect to reduce trash by 70 per cent given that even zero waste taken to the landfill from residences can only be a 33 per cent reduction?

Where is the reduction plan for the 67 per cent of waste from business, of which 28 per cent is “actual” garbage, 17 per cent is organics, and 14 per cent is recyclables?

How does reducing residential property tax by $72(?) for a “basic” service and then charging $434 (a 478 per cent increase) for a “utility” reduce volumes at the landfill and/ or save money? Is the city expecting the cost of running another pickup vehicle to be reduced if a person opts for a smaller, less expensive bin?

Why does the city continually repeat that 58 per cent of single family waste is organics as if to say that residential customers are the problem, when the true number is that residential organics only account for 14 per cent of all waste to the landfill?

Ian Striemer, Saskatoon