HUMBOLDT — With automated curbside waste costs increasing for the city, council is hoping to apply for a grant with the Regional Authority of Carlton Trail to pay for a third party to study costs.
As of Jan 1, 2020, the rate the city pays to the authority went up from $9 per cart per month to $14.30. The city has not yet passed the extra cost to the consumer.
The third-party study, expected to cost around $100,000, would likely look at the authority’s operations, especially the costs and revenues for the new landfill, existing landfills, transfer sites, recycling, operating levies and other services to develop a sustainable multi-year plan and fee structure.
A Targeted Sector Support Initiative grant from the provincial government would pay for 75 per cent of the cost, with the city and the authority splitting the rest.
Coun. Roger Nordick was in support of the grant application.
“People are just getting over the fact that we imposed an additional cost when we had the bins installed and went from the bags. Then we had additional costs constructing the landfill. All of these are very recent,” he said, adding there’s now a lot of public concern about the future of recycling services.
Council approved the idea at its Feb. 24 meeting. The authority would also have to approve going after the grant at its next board meeting.
