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Town of Battleford talks trash at council

Apr 20, 2017 | 12:00 PM

Town of Battleford residents who want to replace their tired, worn garbage containers will need to cover the expense if they want a brand new container.

Council discussed the issue at its last meeting and agreed with administration’s recommendation for homeowners to cover the cost of replacing their old containers if they want a new one.

While the containers that were provided to residents for free are reaching the end of their design life, it would be too expensive for the town to fork over between $140,000 to $180,000, to replace all the containers in the community.

If residents have problems with a faulty wheel or need a part replacement they can come to the town hall office to discuss the matter to see if the town can help replace the broken part.

Coun. Kevin Russell mentioned during council that “sometimes it’s the homeowners responsibility,” to look after the container to keep it in good condition.

The cost of the garbage bin is $100 with a $30 administration fee.

“Part of the policy was brought forth due to the fact that a lot of these garbage cans could be starting to fail in the next month and in years to come, to fully get ahead of it before the big influx,” said Mayor Ames Leslie. “We all know these garbage cans may last another five or eight years before they start failing. The expected life span is exactly that – expected. We don’t really know until we go through it.”

The mayor added if people have specific concerns about vandalism related to their garbage bins they should speak to the town to see what can be done such as perhaps waiving the administrative fee to replace the can.

“Sometimes it is very frustrating to have someone else damage your can,” said Leslie.

The containers were originally purchased for residents about eight to 10 years ago.

Leslie added the town is not able to finance replacing all the containers in the community.

“It is there can to take away their garbage,” he said. “The cost of that you are going to pay for one way or the other, either through your taxes. That individual would pay a portion of everybody’s garbage can then through their taxes, or they could pay the one-time fee and have it good for another 10 years.  If you paid it over 10 years, that would be about $13 a year.”

“If the town had to raise taxes to cover the replacement of all these cans again it could very well be more than $13 a year,” added the mayor.

 

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @battlefordsNOW