District of Squamish council is leaning toward implementing a solid waste utility to more closely control where and how much money goes into solid waste services.
Currently homeowners pay $120 per year for their waste collection and both homeowners and businesses pay $80 per tonne of garbage put into the landfill. The money goes into the general fund, which pays for roads, parks, transportation, flood protection and numerous other services.
During the Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday (Nov. 23), engineering director Brian Barnett explained to council that changing the $120 waste collection fee into a utility would create a solid waste fund.
Tipping fees would also go into the fund, making solid waste services spending more transparent and holding staff more accountable for the fund's sustainability.
"In the long run, this should decrease taxes because only the money put into solid waste services will be allowed to be spent on solid waste services," Barnett said.
He said that right now, because the general fund encompasses so many services, specific information about where the money goes isn't easy to distinguish.
"This way we can only spend the money we earn."
Barnett also reminded residents and business owners they can control their own cost savings by diverting any recyclable materials from their garbage.
He also said that unfortunately the waste utility service isn't earning enough to sustain current service levels, future closure costs, administration, drop-off site improvements and, most importantly, environmental upgrades.
During the meeting, Barnett said the current tipping fee should to be changed from $80 to $97 to meet those needs.
Coun. Paul Lalli asked about raising tipping fees for communities outside Squamish who are sending garbage here - Pemberton, Britannia Beach and Devine.
"The SLRD document talks about Squamish being a regional landfill - but it's all economies of scale," Lalli said. "Obviously the more volume we have, the lower the costs are and it's really about providing a service for the people who utilize it at an affordable cost."
Lalli asked about changing the tipping fee before Barnett announced the new suggested $97 amount, but Lalli said he also thinks other communities should pay more and at the very least, should not be subsidized.
"Those outside communities should be helping to pay for our closure and for our operational costs, and in my mind, they should be paying a surcharge because we're taking their garbage," he said.
"Also, in the last 10 years there's something called the equalization agreement where we were subsidizing them and we need to review that - they're old agreements and those that want to take advantage of bringing their garbage here should be paying."
Barnett said the purpose of the equalization agreement was to reduce costs to some of the communities that had high transportation expenses to haul garbage to distant landfills - Devine, for example, used the Pemberton landfill until its closure in 1998.
However, Barnett said the agreement expired a couple of years ago.
Despite the advantages of the equalization agreement, Whistler has not been sending its garbage to the Squamish landfill and won't until higher environmental standards are met.
Chief administrative officer Kevin Ramsay said the environmental landfill clean-up should be the district's No. 1 priority.
"The existing landfill is filling rapidly and does not meet current environmental standards," Ramsay said. "The environmental clean-up should have gotten done years ago and today we need to move ahead with the improvements."
Leachate (polluted refuse water) treatment is the No. 1 priority and Sperling Hansen Associates, the company hired to complete the preliminary design of the landfill upgrade project in June, said leachate volumes will be reduced by covering and sealing the current drainage area and collected leachate will be treated.
That fact that Whistler isn't sending its garbage to Squamish isn't disturbing to everyone on council. In fact, some councillors questioned whether Squamish should accept it.
Coun. Rob Kirkham suggested council consider limiting the number of communities allowed to use the landfill - in turn making it last longer.
"Do we want other garbage in our landfill?"
Barnett responded that, 10 years ago, the provincial government passed a law giving regional districts the authority to manage solid waste. Making Squamish a regional landfill is part of SLRD's plan, but there is currently no binding contract in place.
He said based on current assessments, the landfill has a 15-year capacity and will cost $7,350,000 over the next 20 years. This includes two expansions, two short-term closures and the necessary monitoring after the final closure.
Barnett said the lifespan of the landfill depends on several factors. If Whistler starts sending its waste in sooner rather than later, the landfill could have an eight-year capacity, but he hopes that, in the interim, other options will arise.
The optimal alternative would be to expand horizontally to an untouched area to the east, which is currently Crown land. This would enable the landfill to build downward and upward, allowing for 60 metres of area to build up instead of the 30 metres available on the existing site.
If this happened, Barnett said the landfill could serve the need for decades.
A motion to award Sperling Hansen Associates $152,000 contract for a detailed design of the Sanitary Landfill Environmental Upgrade Project passed unanimously, as did a motion for staff to begin the formulation of bylaws creating a solid waste utility.
