Coun. Chad Collins calls winter yard waste pickup the "low-hanging fruit" of sacrificial budget line items for a reason.

"The vast majority of our residents aren't using the service."

In fact, a city survey in 2016 found 90 per cent of residents rarely or never dropped bags of leaves at the curb in winter.

This is why Collins and Coun. John-Paul Danko hope their colleagues agree to dump the cold-weather service to help ease a looming budget crunch.

Staff figure if the 12-month schedule was reduced to nine months (keeping two weeks for Christmas tree pickup), between $200,000 and $300,000 a year could be saved.

The current cost of the program is about $800,000 to $900,000 a year.

Collins said there "really isn't much justification" to keep offering the service in December, January and February.

The weekly leaf and yard waste program dates to April 2013, noted Joel McCormick, manager of waste collections.

The pickup schedule helps the city manage what goes into the central composting facility, which is where green bin and organic material ends up, he said. "Additionally, residents really appreciate the leaf and yard waste collection and were requesting increased collection frequency."

Collins and Danko's pitch goes before Monday's public works committee as staff prepare a request for proposals for a waste collection contract covering 2021 to 2028. City workers collect yard waste and trash in the lower city, while the service is contracted out to GFL in "B zones," which is mostly the Mountain.

The idea to slim down the bill comes as elected officials look for ways to close a $52-million budget deficit. If that gap isn't reduced, residents face a 5.5 tax hike, which amounts to about $196 on the average home.

Collins is also proposing a hike to the minimum vehicle fee at city transfer stations and community recycling centres to $10 from $8.50 starting Jan. 1. The idea is to put an anticipated $100,000 revenue spike toward the budget hole.

Danko's motion to open the door to garbage pickup every second week is also to be discussed Monday.

He wants to include the option — with a two-bin limit — in this fall's request for proposals to award a new contract.

The hope is to reduce trash at the landfill, saving valuable space, in addition to saving an estimated $3 million a year in collection costs.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

tmoro@thespec.com

905-526-3264 | @TeviahMoro