Council received a report at the November 16, 2017 Ordinary Council meeting relating to “Waste Fees and Management of Council Waste Facilities”. This report provided a comprehensive outline of the challenges Snowy Monaro Regional Council faces with the ongoing management of licensed and unlicensed landfills, transfer stations, waste collection points and the management of legacy waste disposal sites.
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The report also outlines how the council waste charges are developed, who they apply to and how they are implemented. At this meeting Council resolved to lift the moratorium on waste Fees and Charges at the Bombala and Delegate facilities, which had been in place since July 1, 2016. The Bombala and Delegate facilities started the collection of waste disposal fees from January 1, 2018, bringing these facilities, in line with all other waste disposal facilities in the council region.
Waste Disposal fees for rural areas in SMRC have moved more towards a user pays principle that is, the generator of the waste is required to pay for the disposal of the waste. This encourages the community to ensure that the maximum recycling potential of the waste is achieved as council does not charge a fee for co-mingled recyclables from a domestic source.
There are various provisions in the Local Government Act 1993 which provides guiding principles for Councils, they include:
· Councils should manage lands and other assets so that current and future local community needs can be met in an affordable way
· Councils should have regard to achieving intergenerational equity, including ensuring the following:
· policy decisions are made after considering their financial effects on future generations,
· the current generation funds the cost of its services.
The term Intergenerational equity (one of the principles of ecologically sustainable development) is referenced as: “that the present generation should ensure that the health, diversity and productivity of the environment is maintained or enhanced for the benefit of future generations”.
The Act also includes (as part of the definition of the principles of ecologically sustainable development) that:
“Improved valuation, pricing and incentive mechanisms—namely that environmental factors should be included in the valuation of assets and services, such as:
· polluter pays—that is, those who generate pollution and waste should bear the cost of containment, avoidance or abatement, and
· the users of goods and services should pay prices based on the full life cycle of costs of providing goods and services, including the use of natural resources and assets and the ultimate disposal of any waste”
Charges for Waste activities are levied through the Local Government Act Section 496 (Domestic Waste Management Services); with user charges levied via Sections 501 (Waste Management Services other than Domestic Waste Management Services); Section 502 (User charges); and Section 608 (Fees for services, products or commodities).
Payment of fees for disposal of waste materials generates revenue which is used to offset the operational costs of managing and maintaining the facilities.
The Department of Local Government (now Office of Local Government) Council Rating and Revenue Raising Manual 2007 provides specific advice regarding the structure of waste charges in place in SMRC:
“11.15 Charging and financing non-domestic waste services
In cases where rural landowners who are allowed to access council garbage tipping facilities are not receiving a domestic waste management service, there are still options available to councils to recover costs. However these are not to be considered as part of any DWMS calculations.
Domestic waste management services must comprise the "periodic collection" of materials from domestic premises. Hence, merely allowing landowners access to a council garbage tip cannot represent the provision of such a service.
Accordingly, the council could:
• levy a special (section 495) tip access rate upon the land; or
• levy an annual (section 501) tip access charge as part of its waste management charge; or
• levy fees (section 608) or user pays charges (section 502) at the tip entrance; or
• levy a combination of some or all of the above rates and charges types in order to seek a fair distribution of the costs involved in maintaining the tipping facility (see limitation under section 503(2)).” (Department of Local Government Council Rating and Revenue Raising Manual 2007 – Page 52).
Since the merger of the three council areas, SMRC has been working toward the alignment of waste fees and charges. This process commenced in August 2016 and continues to this day. Each of the three former councils had different methods for applying waste disposal fees to residents who did and did not receive a kerbside collection service. The first stage of the process commenced with the standardisation of waste fees and charges to domestic properties and waste facilities in the former Cooma and Snowy River Council areas. The final stage of the process required the fees and charges in the former Bombala Council area to be consistent with those of the former Cooma and Snowy River areas. As part of the 2017/18 budget process information sessions regarding the proposed changed arrangements were conducted in Bombala (2) and Delegate in February/March 2017. Initially a moratorium was in place until September 30, 2017 with a further three month extension being granted until December 31, 2017.
The SMRC 2018 Revenue Policy provides the details for the rates and charges applied by Council on rateable properties.
The “Waste Management Fee “of $101 is applicable to “all rateable properties” throughout the Snowy Monaro Regional Council area. The funds generated through the Waste Management Charge contribute towards the cost of ensuring the continued maintenance and availability of waste management facilities and services, waste education activities, the cost of servicing street litter bins, investigating and cleaning up illegal dumping activities, providing annual programs such as the “Household Chemical Cleanout Day”, providing waste management support to community events and planning for future capital expenditure at waste facilities in regional and rural areas. This charge does not allow any residents to be able to deposit waste at a council facility for free.
Properties which receive a Kerbside Collection Service also have an additional charge applied to their rates to cover the cost of providing this service. This is known as the “Domestic Waste Collection Service”. The funds generated through this fee cover the costs associated with providing this service to residential properties.
Properties which do not receive a kerbside collection service are required to pay for the disposal of the waste they generate when it is deposited at a Council waste facility. These charges are based on the user pays principle and are determined by the volume or weight of the waste being presented. Each year Council determines the fees and charges which are applied through the annual budget process.
As you can appreciate Waste Management is a complicated matter. In essence, what many understand as the ‘end of the process’ when a bin is placed for collection or material taken to a landfill or transfer station, is actually the beginning of a whole range of other processes which are required to be undertaken in accordance with regulatory requirements.
A long-term and holistic approach is required in managing all of the Council facilities to ensure that Council meets its legislative requirements and at the same time providing reasonable access to the community for the responsible disposal of waste materials.