City of Charlottetown officials are faced with making a decision by the end of the month on whether they wish to opt out of having non-domestic garbage pick-up provided by the proposed Waste Management Utility. Mitch Murphy, Minister of Technology and Environment, has offered this option to the City in a letter delivered to Charlottetown Mayor George MacDonald earlier today.
"In light of the resolution passed by the City on March 12 in support of a publicly managed Waste Watch Program for Charlottetown, I am prepared to instruct the Utility, whether private or public, to reimburse the City of Charlottetown the difference between the annual Waste Watch fee collected and the amount it costs to pay for non-domestic garbage pick-up," said Minister Murphy. This amount would be forwarded to the City of Charlottetown, allowing the City the choice of having the non-domestic garbage picked up by its own employees or under contract by a supplier hired by the City. It will be up to the City to decide how this service is delivered to its citizens. "If the City of Charlottetown wishes to protect its employees, they have that right. This has never been an issue for the Province, although we are confident the adoption of a full Waste Watch program by the City of Charlottetown would offer a savings of hundreds of thousand of dollars to its citizens," noted the Minister.
It is estimated the amount to be reimbursed will be under $5 for each city tax bill number and will be equivalent to what residents of the City of Summerside pay for pick-up of non-domestic garbage as part of their annual Waste Watch fee.
"I have set the end of the month as a deadline for the City to respond. Evaluation of the two proposals from the private sector for the operation of the proposed waste management utility is currently underway and with completion expected soon, we need a decision from the City on what it wants to do," concluded Mr. Murphy.