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Saskatoon city council is taking back its decision to create a garbage utility after Ward 1 Councillor Darren Hill successfully put through a “do-over” vote on the curbside bin system.
Hill had originally voted in favour of creating the garbage utility in November, acting as the deciding vote in approving the system which would have seen homeowners charged a monthly fee based on how big their black bin was.
However, he issued notice days later at budget talks that he wanted to rescind the vote due to new information.
Hill’s vote was the only one to change Monday when his motion to rescind the decision came forward.
He joined councillors Ann Iwanchuk, Zach Jeffries, Bev Dubois, Randy Donauer and Troy Davies in striking down the utility in a 6-5 vote.
It was the first time Hill had asked to change his vote after the fact in his 12 years on council.
The Ward 1 representative said he made the decision after seeing new data suggesting the waste utility wouldn’t achieve the desired waste diversion touted by administration, and information suggesting the Saskatoon landfill could be expanded on its current site.
“We’ve been holding the fear of a new landfill and additional costs over the heads of residents for years,” he said.
City administration has indicated opening a new landfill and closing the current one would cost of $125 million, with that expense coming sooner if Saskatoon doesn’t increase its waste diversion from the current rate of 23 per cent.
However, city staff also confirmed there is a possibility for expanding the current landfill westward, though that would be considered a new landfill and most of the costs would be the same.
Hill disputed this when speaking to reporters after the decision to nix the utility.
“I can tell you that an additional cell being added to the landfill is not going to cost $100 million,” he said.
Administration did note they hadn’t explored the possibility of expanding the landfill in depth.
A bid by Coun. Donauer to also rescind a decision to fund a new green bin organics program through property taxes failed 6-5, with Jeffries supporting the model.
Monday’s decision didn’t sit well with those on the other side of the vote.
Councillors Mairin Loewen and Sarina Gersher both expressed concerns the decision could put garbage collection back on property taxes, leading to a massive tax increase in 2020 when administration would be forced to close a funding gap in waste management.
The potential tax hike to cover both garbage and organics has been estimated at a 4.7 per cent.
Loewen pointed out that when combined with typical annual tax increases, it could result in an overall jump of eight per cent or greater.
“I have serious concerns about asking residents in the city to shoulder an additional increase related to waste … which does not increase our diversion targets,” she said.
Me thinking about #yxecc rescinding the waste utility model, meaning property tax will go up by an estimated 4.5% for garbage alone in an election year pic.twitter.com/TTy0ILBCi2
— Mairin Loewen (@mairinloewen) December 18, 2018
Mayor Charlie Clark advised against bringing the waste debate back to the drawing board, saying his conversations with residents have been clear.
“This council made a decision and it’s time to move on,” he said.
City administration will now have to prepare new reports for council to consider in 2019 for waste programs that encourage diversion while funding the waste management file.
Hill said there’s a possibility they still end up going with the proposed model of different garbage bin sizes, but he’d like staff to explore bag-and-tag systems — which he said could increase waste diversion by 44 per cent.
There is no timeline on when the new reports would come before council.