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City council reacted unfavourably to a suggestion by the solid waste committee that the dump should be closed on Sundays from Sept. 3 to April 3, after a report revealed the solid waste facility lost nearly $25K due to a lack of Sunday revenue over the year. - Cody Punter/NNSL photo |
Dump may reduce winter hours Report shows solid waste facility
lost nearly $25K due to lack of Sunday revenue
Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Published Friday, July 12, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The city may be reducing hours at the dump this winter after city council was told Monday the solid waste facility is losing money.
Peter Houweling, assistant superintendent at the solid waste facility, recommended the dump be closed to the public on Sundays from Sept. 3 to April 3, but council was unhappy with that suggestion.
The city's solid waste management committee, chaired by Coun. Rebecca Alty, presented a report Monday showing the solid waste facility was operating at a loss for every Sunday it was open for all but one month in 2012. Houweling revealed the dump lost $24,888.80 for all the Sundays it was open in 2012, whereas it generated $33,515.35 in revenue being open on Saturdays. Houweling said one of the factors contributing to the deficit on Sundays is the double overtime paid to unionized staff at the solid waste facility.
Houweling told council the last spring and fall amnesty weeks, which allow residents to dump household waste for free, cost the city $40,000.
Based on those figures, Houweling suggested the dump should close on Sundays from the beginning of September until early April - the months where the dump lost the most amount of money - which would be offset by having the dump open for an extra 15 minutes a day for the rest of the week.
Coun. Bob Brooks was adamant the dump remain open on Sundays, arguing having the dump open seven days a week is a service most Yellowknifers expect.
"It was all about a business and not about the public," said Brooks of the proposal to close the dump on Sundays.
"Yes, I would like it to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible, but I'd also like to be able to provide the services to the residents, when it's beneficial and convenient to them."
Brooks said while he did not want to see the dump operating at a loss, he was not prepared to see a reduction in services to residents who use it.
"We've had so many problems with trying to keep it open for the general public and salvaging. I didn't want to find ways that continue to nick away until, finally, we've got it down to almost nothing and the public stops using it."
According to Alty, the dump has been operating at a deficit for several years. She said despite increases in tipping fees - now $9, from no fee in 2005 - and the monthly solid waste levy charged to homeowners - up to $16.50 from $10 in 2005 - fees are still not high enough to allow for full cost recovery of financial losses at the facility.
"This is a way to still provide a great level of service and chip away at the deficit," said Alty, of closing the dump on Sundays.
"If they close on Sundays you get higher savings because you have to pay employees more on a Sunday as opposed to a Saturday."
The other reason the dump is recording losses on Sunday is because there are fewer commercial loads going to the dump that day, which account for a larger percentage of revenue than residential loads.
Alty later suggested a compromise could be arranged whereby the dump would remain open for its regular hours on Saturday, but open for reduced hours on Sunday.
Brooks agreed with the idea and went even further, suggesting the city could consider operating the dump on reduced hours on both Saturday and Sunday.
"A four-hour window is a good enough sized window to accommodate most people," said Brooks. "That would save some money and it would still allow the general public a window to be able to bring in their stuff."
Council decided to send the solid waste management committee's report back to administration to review other possible ways of saving money without affecting service to the public.
While Alty was pleased council was willing to compromise, she said she was still curious to see if the city would be able to close the dump on Sunday without affecting the quality of service to the public.
"It would be interesting to see if it was closed on Sunday, how many people would really be affected," said Alty. "Because could the people then go on a Saturday and still not notice a disruption in service?"
This wouldn't be the first time dump hours have been reduced. Public dump hours were reduced to 4 to 6 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays in 2004 after city officials complained there wasn't enough time to bulldoze waste at the landfill face with the public present dumping and salvaging trash.
The hours were expanded to 8 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. in 2009 after the city created a three-cell salvaging area.
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