Twisted logic

It’s safe to say most Fort Frances residents accept user fees as necessary to help pay for the various services the town offers, and that it’s only fair those who use said services foot more of the bill than taxpayers in general through their property tax.
While no one likes to see these fees go up, especially in such tough economic times and with many residents on fixed incomes, a two percent increase for 2010 being eyed by town council falls in line with the rising cost of living over the past year.
Bag tags, however, are a different story, with many still irked over the idea of having to pay extra for garbage collection each week if they have more than one bag or can. And you can bet having to fork over $2 per bag tag instead of $1.75—a 12.5 percent jump—will only stoke that simmering resentment, especially since it comes on the heels of an almost 17 percent hike just last year (from $1.50 to $1.75).
In fact, bag tags will have gone up 100 percent since just April 1, 2007 (from $1 to $2 if the 2010 user fee schedule is passed).
What’s particularly vexing is the reasoning behind the price hikes. The town’s initial argument for bringing in bag tags essentially was to get residents to recycle more—and hence divert more waste from the landfill site. Fair enough. Apparently, though, we have taken to recycling too well because the landfill has seen decreased revenues and that has to be recouped somehow.
So let’s get this straight: we’re paying for bag tags to reduce waste, but have to keep paying more because we’ve reduced waste.
Hmmmm. By that same twisted logic, if the town is installing water meters as one way to get residents to reduce consumption, does that mean we’ll actually end up paying higher and higher rates down the road because of the subsequent shortfall in revenue?
Evidently so.