Battle brewing as County bids to hide waste collection costs in levy

New Tecumseth Free Press November 22, 2012

Simcoe County councillors will be prodded next week to support an unexpected motion through Corporate Services committee that seeks to work the annual cost to provide waste management services into the overall upper tier levy.

Currently, the cost for each municipality’s share of residential curbside collection is based on a per unit basis. The proposed change would instead replace that formula and ratepayers would instead pay for waste based on their assessment – the higher it is, the greater the share of the bill.

Essa mayor Terry Dowdall, who sits on Corporate Services, is opposed to the change. As is Adjala-Tosorontio mayor Tom Walsh. New Tecumseth uses assessment values to collect its share of the waste costs. In 2012 the average charge was $157. If the County implements the assessment system, the local share will increase as New Tecumseth is second highest contributor of County taxes.

Mayor Dowdall told Free Press Online this morning via email that the per unit rate keeps the financial obligations spread evenly, and when cost savings are achieved, as is the case starting in next April 1, the savings are passed down. A new seven year deal the County has signed with BFI, will cost about $10.65 million in its first year, a decrease of $2.6 million from the $13,282,800 budgeted for the same services in 2012.

“It is much better to show unit cost to allow residents to see cost and perhaps savings if quantity reduced,” he wrote via email. “There is no incentive to have waste redudtion if based solely on assessment. Assessments statistically do not go down. … There are certainly mixed messages from County as extra tags can be purchased at equal pricing of $3 and therefore not based on assessment.”

Simcoe County councillors are scheduled to ratify the upper tier’s 2013 budget on Nov. 27. It contemplates operating expenditures and capital asset acquisitions of $415 million. Total operating and capital revenues are $397 million and the remaining funding is assumed to be financed as follows:

-Two per cent levy increase of $2.2 million;

-Additional Debt financing of approximately $8.1M;

-Unfinanced development charges reserve balance increase of $7.7 million