Yellowknife (Feb 16/05) - City council has decided to scrap a $5 access fee to the dump after hundreds of Yellowknifers complained the plan would limit salvaging and lead to a trash build-up.

"Upon closer examination, the charge is premature," said Councillor David McCann, echoing the views of his counterparts during a sparsely attended session Monday night.

Council voted unanimously to remove the controversial access fee from a bylaw that will increase disposal fees for everything from cooking grease, to fridges, to car batteries, to animal carcasses.

The toll would have been collected from every vehicle entering the dump to salvage, or drop off household garbage. The measure met with a surge of opposition, when it was introduced last month, in letters and phone calls.

Leading the charge was Walt Humphries, a well-known Yellowknifer columnist who told council the access fee was just another way to restrict salvaging at the landfill - a popular pastime practised by "hundreds."

"You should be encouraging people to take stuff out of the dump, not discouraging it," Humphries said.

The access fee could cause many residents to drop their garbage by the side of the road or in commercial dumpsters downtown, Humphries warned.

"The way the charges are right now, they are going to cause more harm than good," he said.

While the decision to nix the fee was greeted as a victory by salvagers, it may only be a temporary reprieve. Several councillors said access to the dump could eventually be restricted, citing concerns about safety and rising insurance costs.

"People do not have the god-given right to muck around in the dump," said Coun. Kevin O'Reilly.

Coun. Doug Witty said there have been several "near misses" between children and heavy equipment, while Coun. Blake Lyons said the dump is full of toxic material including asbestos and contaminated soil.

On Monday, council also gave final approval to a bylaw that will increase the monthly price of curbside garbage pick-up by 10 per cent, to $11 a household.

The changes were proposed to help cover a garbage disposal fund that is predicted to be $131,000 in debt by the end of the year.

Administration predicts the new cost increases will bring in about $300,000 annually - an important total as the city prepares to decommission the current dump and open a new site.