There will be no change to yard and waste pickup in Chatham-Kent after the idea was voted down by council on Monday night.
Staff was recommending that all leaf and yard waste pickup services be removed as of January 1, 2021, and that the corresponding leaf and yard waste levies be removed from all residences.
Prior to amalgamation in 1998, nine communities received service that included some level of leaf and yard waste curbside pick-up provided by the Public Works Department. These communities include Wheatley, Tilbury, Blenheim, Erie Beach, Erieau, Ridgetown, Bothwell, Thamesville and Bates Subdivision. The services remained in place after amalgamation and was never expanded to other communities in Chatham-Kent.
According to staff, all budgeted funds for the service are area-rated to the community, with any variance to the budget absorbed by the general tax base through the Public Works budget. If the municipality were to stop the service, the $475,245 leaf and yard waste levy would have been removed from the tax assessment of the residents of the nine communities with $453,579 accounted for in general tax base and $21,666 removed from the lifecycle budget.
Staff also touted the environmental benefits that eliminating the service would bring by reducing the number of plastic bags needed to collect yard waste and by encouraging residents to use the waste for mulch and compost.
However, many councillors said residents in the nine communities affected appreciated the service and didn't want to see it go, even if it meant they would have to continue to pay an additional charge.
Councillor Trevor Thompson spoke out against the idea, saying that he was frustrated with the recommendation by staff.
"The residents are very frustrated as well," he said. "There was never any call to remove this service at all. I'd hoped we were going to have a conversation maybe about expanding to other communities."
In the report, staff did provide options to expand the service to all communities of Chatham-Kent. However, with an estimated price tag of $4 million to $5 million per year, it was not being recommended by staff.
West Kent Councillor Mark Authier echoed some of Thompson's frustrations.
"I hear it every day [from residents], 'I can't stand being part of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent' and this is exactly one of the reasons why," said Authier. "I am so frustrated right now, I can't believe that we're bringing this stuff up. People are paying for it, it's not costing Chatham-Kent money, it's paid for."
According to Chief Administrative Officer Don Shropshire, the recommendation was being made based on previous council direction.
"We received direction from council on September 28 to look at a large number of different issues to try and come back to council... this was one of the issues that council had requested that we come back to," explained Shropshire. "Our understanding is that this is in the spirit of trying to get council options to get back to a zero budget. We understand this one is somewhat different as there's not the same dramatic decrease in budget."
Staff also noted that there were inequity concerns from residents of the communities that did not receive leaf or yard waste services.
The recommendation to end yard waste and leaf pickup was voted against by council 76 per cent by 24 per cent. Meanwhile, council narrowly approved a recommendation to have staff work with interested parties towards the development of a comparable, affordable, and eco-friendly alternative service to manage a leaf and yard waste/recommended mulching and compost program in Chatham-Kent.
