Saskatoon city council cancels plan to charge garbage collection user fees

It's back to the drawing board for Saskatoon city hall workers.

In a close vote, city councillors voted 6-5 to reverse a recent decision to have garbage collection paid for via a monthly utility. The utility would have been charged to people living in single-family homes, based on the size of one of three variably sized garbage carts. 

Coun. Darren Hill called for the rescinding, with councillors Bev Dubois, Ann Iwanchuk, Troy Davies, Randy Donauer and Zach Jeffries supporting the idea of a rethink. 

"What a shame," said a member of the Saskatchewan Environmental Advisory Council as he rose up to leave. 

All other councillors voted against Hill's motion.

"It's time to move on. I haven't heard something new today," said Mayor Charlie Clark.

Hill recently signalled he wanted to revisit the Nov. 19 vote on the Pay As You Throw funding model after having a "sober second thought" about it. 

Among the reasons he cited Monday night was a concern that the monthly fees would not reflect how much garbage people actually have in their bins — an argument made several times before in prior debates.

Monday's vote doesn't take the notion of charging for garbage as a utility off the table. It just means it would have to be considered among other options, a city staffer said.

Hill, despite his victory, wasn't even clear himself what funding option he would prefer as an alternative.

Organics collection will still be funded via property tax, despite an effort by Donauer on Monday night to reverse that recent decision, too.