Tenterfield Shire Council's Operational Plan for the 2019/20 period was passed by councillors at an extraordinary meeting today, but not before there was a lot of talk about rubbish.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Councillor Bob Rogan was concerned that the hike in tip fees was not evenly spread across the board, while Cr Mike Petrie is sick of having to dig around for coins to pay those fees.
READ ALSO:
The draft plan received 14 official community comments, several of which resulted in amendments. These included details of the waste vouchers dispatched to each ratepayer (valued at $18.80 each, equivalent to the cost of a small box trailer load of rubbish), signalling a return to the three-vouchers-per-ratepayer system after an unsuccessful foray into free rubbish days.
Also amended as a result of submissions were inclusion of the per kilolitre charge for non-residential sewer (omitted from last year's plan in error) and the charge for disposal of livestock carcasses ($238 for cattle/horses, $54 for dogs/goats/sheep).
A submission from the Mingoola Progress Association requested that transfer station fee increases be limited to the CPI (Consumer Price Index), sitting at around 1.5 per cent year-on-year as of last month. Increases in these fees were the main bone of contention at the council meeting, with council staff explaining that the rubbish disposal service has been operating at unsustainable losses and the fee hike was necessary to break even, rather than generate a profit.
The fees for disposal of general waste at the tip have gone up between 12 and 15 per cent for smaller quantities, whereas the fee increase for emptying a 120 litre bin or bag (up 125 per cent, from $5.60 to $12.60) or 240 litre bin or bag (up 89 per cent, from $9 to $17) concerned Cr Rogan. His bid to reduce the fee for 120 litres from $12.60 to $8, however, was voted down.
As Cr John Macnish pointed out, those who diligently recycle shouldn't be generating much waste anyway.
Cr Petrie had more success in his suggestion that the fees be rounded to the nearest 50 cent, which appeared to win the favour council representative Erika Bursford who said a lot of staff time was consumed by making change and counting coins. While many at the Tenterfield Transfer Station pay by EFTPOS, that facility is yet to come to Urbenville, Legume and Liston.
With the impact on revenues of such a move yet to be calculated, the change to round up or down has been bookmarked for next year's Operational Plan.
Council has applied the rate peg of a 2.7 per cent increase in property rates for the coming financial year, as allowed through IPART (Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal).
Perhaps reflecting the scarcity of water, bulk water sales from council's standpipe have quadrupled in price from $6.20 to $25 per kilolitre.
The new fee schedule applies from July 1.
