City service cuts meant to lessen this year’s property tax increase will soon be felt by those who use the city’s waste drop-off centre.
Beginning April 28, the Waste Innovation Resource Centre on Dunlop Drive will no longer be open on Mondays. Its operation is set to be reduced from six days per week – weekdays and Saturdays – down to five.
The cutback is part of a slate of potential service reductions proposed by city staff in October and included in the city’s 2025 budget update finalized by city council in January with a 6.78 per cent property tax increase.
“We needed to look across the organization for potential service level reductions and savings. Solid waste service levels were reviewed internally and that went through the budget process and was adopted,” explained Cameron Walsh, the city’s manager of solid waste services.
The idea, he added, drew no public feedback during the budget update process, including public presentations, townhall-style meetings led by council members, open council sessions and more.
“We really have not had any feedback until we've moved to implementation,” he said, referring to a notice posted on the city’s website and social media posts on Wednesday.
Since then, Walsh said the city’s heard from some commercial customers.
“They've shared concerns regarding logistics challenges and business impact concerns. So, they're grappling with change, that's their initial reaction.
“We were gathering this feedback to better understand these issues and look for ways to work with the community within the new schedule.”
Removing Monday drop-off is expected to reduce spending by $413,100 annually.
Monday was chosen for elimination because the collective bargaining agreement with city employees requires five consecutive days of work each week. The other option to cut, Walsh said, was Saturday, but they’re 35 per cent busier than Mondays.
“Its not an unheard-of level of service. It's just not where we were,” he said, noting there are similar waste drop-off hours in Durham Region, Wellington County and Barrie.
"We estimate that we could see as much as a 20 per cent increase in traffic on the alternate days resulting from the closure on Monday. The recent investment in scale infrastructure provides sufficient capacity to process the anticipated increase,” Walsh added in a follow-up email.
Asked how the projected savings is to be achieved, Walsh said there will be a reduction in overall staff at the drop-off centre, courtesy of attrition through retirements and seniority-based bumping between unionized positions.
In addition to the website and social media posts informing residents of the reduced hours, an on-site sign is planned, in addition to informing users who attend the centre.