Whittlesea council will dip into royalties reserved for cleaning up old tips so it can continue giving residents free waste vouchers.
Despite a shortfall of more than $387,000 in the 2015-16 council budget for its tip voucher program, councillors voted to keep the $837,200 service going, drawing down on the council’s landfill reserve, a fund primarily set aside for the restoration of old landfills.
Councillors also voted last Tuesday to prepare a report by October detailing the future viability of the program, which gives each household a free tip voucher with yearly rates notices.
In 1990, the council made an arrangement with Hanson, owners of the Wollert landfill, to provide two council-subsidised tip vouchers for each household.
In 2013, the council adopted a new waste strategy that cut back to one voucher per household, with a clause to phase out free vouchers entirely by July last year.
But there was an uproar from residents reliant on the service, many fearing a spike in rubbish dumping if the system was not reintroduced. The council listened and extended the program until January 1 this year.
It came before councillors again as part of recent budget formulations but not all agreed with the decision to keep the free voucher service going.
Councillors Rex Griffin, Kris Pavlidis, Christine Stow and Adrian Spinelli were unimpressed when last Tuesday’s vote offered a lifeline until June 31 next year. Cr Spinelli called the decision “a joke.”
Cr Pavlidis labelled the investment “alarming”.
“It’s a huge amount of money, almost $1 million for just one in every seven residents,” Cr Pavlidis said.
“I don’t think it’s a responsible move to do that, especially when we have a policy that says to do this would be to move backwards.”
Cr Stow pointed out Whittlesea was one of just four councils that subsidised landfill for its residents. She called on council officers to consider more environmentally friendly ways to deal with waste.
The present system allows residents to present a voucher at the Wollert tip, which covers the $62 gate fee. About 11,500 residents used the service in 2013-14.
Doreen resident Andrew Gardner said he’s never needed to use a tip voucher in the six years he’s lived in the municipality.
“The normal waste bins and hard rubbish service do the job,” he said. “If you need to use the tip you should pay.”
According to the Environment Protection Authority, landfill levies are used exclusively for environmental protection activities, including promoting the sustainable use of resources and building best practice into waste management.
