LOCAL authorities have reacted to news that government is to withdraw the current £5.7 million annual waste disposal subsidy, a move that will transplant the cost from taxpayers on to local government as part of Department of Infrastructure (DoI) cost-cutting exercises.
Ramsey and Port St Mary Commissioners have published figures on what the changes could mean for them financially.
Government says the move will save the taxpayer an additional £1 million each year between 2013 and 2018, by which time the local authorities – which are already responsible for domestic collections – will be paying the full cost of disposal at the Energy from Waste facility and Wright’s Pit North.
This effectively means the current gate fees of £35 per tonne for domestic waste and £106 per tonne for commercial waste will rise to £57.35 and £130 respectively from April 1 next year, increasing annually to reach £161.35 per tonne for both domestic and commercial waste by 2018.
This charge does not include the additional levy from Energy from Waste Plant operator SITA, which this year was 2.42 per cent.
Speaking at a meeting last week, Port St Mary Commissioners chairman Bernadette McCabe said, assuming the weight of waste produced in the area remained at a similar level, their bill would go up from £28,500 to £44,000 next year, and as high as £107,000 by 2018, translating into an approximate 76p in the pound rate for Port St Mary residents.
Mrs McCabe said: ‘These additional costs are obviously outside of our control, but the board will continue working towards reducing the impact these increases will have on Port St Mary rate payers.
‘The board has already been very proactive in reducing our overall operation costs in relation to waste via the successful implementation of the joint refuse collection with our neighbours in Port Erin, but that said, we will still continue to investigate all avenues of efficiencies.’
In Ramsey, commissioners scrutinised annual levels of waste produced in the town for the past eight years, the period during which the Richmond Hill Energy From Waste facility has been active.
In the 2004-05 financial year, the average Ramsey household produced 1.0134 tonnes of waste, a figure which has fallen annually to an average of 0.7945 tonnes per household collected in 2011-12.
Commissioners concluded that the 20 per cent reduction in domestic refuse is likely to be the result of greater recycling, reporting previous DoI indications that the bring banks at Station Road are among the highest used facilities in the island, and the new Civic Amenity Site is much more conveniently located to Ramsey.
It was noted that Ramsey is presently ‘fortunate enough not to have a major fly-tipping problem’.
The commissioners’ rates estimates for the current year, included domestic disposal charges, totalling £100,200.
Using the figures collected for the current year so far, and adding the December to March figures from year provide a projected tonnage for the present year of 2,748 tonnes of domestic waste, which also includes the schools.
As for the ratepayer, Ramsey Commissioners calculated that, assuming the trend of reduced tonnage continues, in 2013-14 the Energy from Waste disposal costs for domestic refuse would be £157,700, equivalent to an estimated 23p in the pound rate.
This represents a rate increase of 8.04p in the pound over the current provision , to be factored into the rate setting for 2013-14.
Tonnage charges for commercial waste are presently passed on to producers and it is assumed that this arrangement will continue.
The commissioners agreed the increase in charges over the next six years may justify a further review of the charge process for domestic refuse; wider recycling options were discussed and it was noted that consideration may also be given to the pros and cons of the introduction of charging households by tonnage, as the present system disadvantages those which produce less waste, and does not provide an incentive for households to cut down on waste.
The commissioner’s chief technical officer has also sought a meeting with the clerk of the Northern Refuse Collection Board, to discuss how co-operation between local authorities in the north might help reduce the overall refuse collection service costs.