By Ian Holmes

Garbage rates not expected to drop as originally predicted: City

Nov 4, 2018 | 7:34 PM

NANAIMO — The projected decline in garbage and recycling rates in Nanaimo appears to be in doubt and it’s unclear what long-term user rates will look like.

The cost of putting trash on the curb spiked in 2018 after the introduction of automated garbage collection, but City of Nanaimo staff pledged last year the rate would drop quickly. The City’s then manager of financial planning said rates would be reduced to $130-per-year in 2019 and fall further to $120 in years six-through-10 of the automated garbage plan.

However, sanitation and recycling manager David Thompson said the estimated rate per Nanaimo household will be $170 a year, up from $165.

When asked if the City can afford to stick to the long-term cost reduction rate plan, Thompson said “I wouldn’t expect that.”

He pointed to increased cost pressures impacting the City’s automated garbage collection system moving forward, including the need for future route expansion and increased garbage disposal fees.

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“I’m not going to comment on where things are going to go (regarding user rates) in the future, certainly our two biggest cost components for delivering this service are labour and landfill tipping fees,” Thompson said.

Curbside collection user rates jumped from $102 to $165 per household, per year over the past three years in Nanaimo as the automated garbage collection process was phased in.

Councillor-elect Sheryl Armstrong, who joined council after the decision to exchange manual garbage collection for automation, said she’s concerned about future user rates being higher than what she and taxpayers expected.

“I can’t speak to why have the rates changed. Was it because the plan wasn’t done properly in the first place? Was it because of inflation? I don’t have that information,” Armstrong said.

She said Council was kept in the dark on several aspects of the curbside automation roll-out, including the composition of new trucks being ordered and not knowing capital costs were nearly $450,000 over budget.

Fellow councillor-elect Ian Thorpe said it’s difficult to comment with the absence of a staff report outlining potentially higher than expected garbage rates. Thorpe said there are many unknowns about future rates, which he said will be a topic for upcoming budget discussions.

“I still feel confident the City will see long-term benefits to the automated system, and I still fully support it,” Thorpe told NanaimoNewsNOW.

The City spent nearly $8-million to bring automated garbage service to Nanaimo, which includes garbage, recycling and organics bins for roughly 24,000 households.

The program was fully rolled out to north and south Nanaimo residents in July.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes