While it may have seemed like a good idea at first, the town will not be giving out vouchers for residents to dump a free load of waste at the landfill after all in what is turning out to be a tight budget year.
Council approved a recommendation from the town’s Operations and Facilities executive committee Monday night to strike the proposed $15 tipping fee voucher from the 2008 budget “due to financial constraints” and reconsider it in the 2009 budget process.
According to a report from Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown, there are roughly 3,400 residential or multi-residential properties in Fort Frances.
If each of these households was given a voucher for a free tipping (valued at $15), this would reduce tipping fee revenues at the landfill by $51,000.
As well, there would be additional operational costs to print and distribute the new vouchers.
In order to address the issue of some local properties remaining to be eyesores, however, the Operations and Facilities executive committee recommended the existing property standards bylaw be reviewed and updated as required.
It also recommended enforcement be “the key to controlling the collection of debris and blight on properties,” Coun. Paul Ryan said during Monday’s committee of the whole meeting.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
