Rubbish rate rise
By Matt Dunn
SOUTH Gippsland residents will be slugged with higher rates and tip fees after the State Government voted to dramatically increase waste disposal costs.
The 369 per cent price hike for country residents will be introduced incrementally over the next five years, and passed on to councils around the state, including South Gippsland Shire Council and Bass Coast Shire Council.
Under the plan to curb landfill and encourage recycling, rural municipal levies for waste will increase from $7 per tonne in 2009/10 to $26.6 per tonne by 2014/15. Industrial levies will increase from $13 per tonne to $46.6 per tonne over the same period.
South Gippsland Shire Council’s Cr Warren Raabe said local governments were scrambling to work out how to deal with the imposed fees.
“The timing is absolutely atrocious for us. At this stage of the year we’ve pretty much got our budget set. Now we’ve got to find an extra $170,000 for the coming year,” he told The Star.
“By 2014/15 there would have been other jumps as well. Council is looking at how to deal with it. We’re not sure at the moment how to deal with it. It’s something the State Government’s just put on us knowing full well our budgets are on the way.
“That’s the depressing part, that it’s come out of the blue. It’s just another charge.”
Money would be collected by the councils through increased charges for regular weekly curbside collections and higher fees at tips.
“It makes life difficult for us, because we have to recoup the costs from the users. The residents may see it as another council fee,” South Gippsland Shire Council CEO Tim Tamlin said.
But Mr Tamlin said he could understand the State Government’s thinking.
“For the sustainability of our communities it probably is unavoidable. If you look at the cost of operating recycling facilities versus the cost of putting it in landfill – as the EPA landfill levy rises – other options become more economically viable,” he said.
The Environment Protection Amendment (Landfill Levies) Bill 2010 was introduced to State Parliament recently and will be debated today (Tuesday, April 13).
“The Victorian Government is taking action to protect our environment by reducing waste to landfill, increasing recycling and at the same time creating jobs for Victorian families,” Environment and Climate Change Minister Gavin Jennings said.
Mr Jennings said the levy increase was a charge being placed on the delivery of material to landfill sites, with councils operating landfill sites passing on the levy through rates.
CEO of Environment Victoria, Kelly O’Shannassy, said: “Environment Victoria supports the increased levies because it will boost recycling rates and keep valuable materials out of landfill.”
But Cr Raabe said the increased waste levy costs were just another example of the way the State Government continued shifting costs on to local councils.
“The privilege of living in the country is becoming dearer and dearer all the time,” he said.
He said the rate disposal hike left South Gippsland Shire Council with just two options.
“We either get the money back somehow or we cut something out. The moment you look to cutting something out, people say, ‘No, I don’t want that cut.’ And usually rightfully so,” he said.
Council has undertaken a waste strategy that is looking at further recycling, green waste bins for residents and other measures, but “it all costs money”.
“The extra pickups all cost money,” Cr Raabe said.
Bass Coast Council infrastructure director Steve Piasente said the new charges meant “effectively our EPA levies double next year”.
“We pay around $200,000 per annum per moment, so that will double in the coming 12 months to about $400,000. It does have a big financial impact,” he said.
“When they first introduced EPA levies, the council basically said when the levies increase we’ll increase our charges at the rate.”
Like South Gippsland Shire Council, Bass Coast Shire Council had all but finalised its budget when the State Government dropped the waste levy bombshell.
Mr Piasente said taking rubbish to the tip would increase by about 20 per cent in the next 12 months while the curbside fee would be a “much lesser amount”.
No one can yet say whether the charges will continue to rise after the five year period.
A spokesman for Mr Jennings said the price levies will be reviewed after the first two years, with another review after 2015.
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