Saskatoon mayor 'disappointed' councillor wants to rescind pay-as-you-throw garbage vote

Mayor Charlie Clark says he plans to vote against a motion that could jeopardize the city's proposed pay-as-you-throw garbage system.

In November, Coun. Darren Hill announced his desire to rescind his vote in favour of the system.

Pay-as-you-throw would have homeowners paying a monthly bill for garbage collection and give them the option of three sizes of bin, with monthly costs depending on the size chosen.

"I felt that we had really worked hard and debated and discussed this issue for many months," Clark told CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning. "I was disappointed to see that we were going to go back and revisit it."

The new system is designed, along with a city-wide composting program, to cut down on the amount of waste headed to the landfill. The City estimates diversion rates could increase anywhere from 15 to 40 per cent.

"I knew this was going to be a tough issue when we started talking about changing the fundamental problems in our garbage system," Clark said. "We're sending way too much material to a landfill that is filling up more quickly than it should, passing on problems to the future generation."

Last month, Hill voted in favour of the new system, which passed six votes to five, but then later said he wanted to rescind his vote. Hill said he had learned new things — including the potential to buy land next to the current landfill for a potential expansion — that led him to question the need for the new system.

While Clark was hesitant to comment about Hill's stated reason to rescind, he said that councillors were given reams of information and a long succession of motions to vote on.

"What concerns me is that administration put a lot of effort into this, and we've even gone out to the public to talk about these changes," he said. "We need to move on, and we need to make a decision."

Administration has warned that building a new landfill could be expensive, with a potential cost of up to $100 million. There would also be more costs if garbage needed to be transported outside the city.

While votes to rescind motions aren't common, they are a part of city bylaws. A majority of councillors will have to vote in favour of allowing Hill to rescind his motion. If successful, a new vote on the issue will be held in 2019.