Council's thorniest debate involved an issue thought settled: curbside organics

People watching Day 2 of Saskatoon city council's Budget 2020 talks Tuesday might have thought they had tuned into a rerun.

That's because Ward 9 Coun.Bev Dubois fronted a motion that, if successful, would have delayed the phased-in debut of the city-wide curbside organics pickup program to 2026 three years after its already-planned launch in 2023.

The motion did not passbut it generated some of the most spirited debate yet during the Budget 2020 talks. Talks resume Wednesday for Day 3.

In a nutshell, Dubois wanted to lower taxpayers' contribution to a specific portion of the property tax bill. This portion is devoted to making up for ongoing funding shortfalls in waste handling services and helping fund the launch of the organics program. Saskatoon does not have a good waste-diversion rate compared to other cities.

Defending her motion, Dubois said the city asks a lot of its taxpayers at a time when they're already faced with other economic pressures.

"We want them to pay and pay and pay," she said.

But some councillors did not relish revisiting an issue they thought had been settled months ago.

Last March, councillors approved a phased-in funding plan that would launch the organics program in 2023.

• Saskatoon city council votes for curbside organic pickup to begin in 2023

That plan would have resulted in property tax increases like so:

Federal gas tax funding subsequently put the increases for 2020 and 2021 to 0.87 per cent.

'I find this actually incredibly frustrating'

Dubois' motion sought to decrease the hikes in 2020 to 2021 to 0.60 per cent a move the city said would delay the launch of the organics program to 2026.

City officials added that the cost of delaying the organics program every year would be about $500,000 more than what Dubois was trying to save in her motion.

"It seems like a net loss," said Ward 7 Coun.Mairin Loewen.

Loewen, along with councillors Sarina Gersher, Hilary Gough, Zach Jeffries, Cynthia Block and Mayor Charlie Clarke, voted against Dubois' motion.

Councillors Dubois, Troy Davies, Ann Iwanchuk and Randy Donauer voted for it.

"I find this actually incredibly frustrating to be discussing and re-debating this," Ward 8 Coun.Sarina Gersher said before the vote, referring to the decision made last March. "It means something when council gives direction."

Councillors actually sought clarity from the city on whether the issue could be "relitigated,"as Loewen put it. It indeed could, officials confirmed, as budget talks are the time to cement such decisions.

"We've been debating this for over a year to get to the point of moving forward on an organics program," Gersher said. "I mean, we're at the point of negotiating an RFP [request for proposals]. It makes no sense to me."

Loewen said city staff had already put much work into planning for the program.

"I'm actually kind of horrified to think about the administrative time that has gone into responding to the changes in direction that have been provided," Loewen said.

• Saskatoon city council ups cost of green cart, recycling programs

Loewen then touched on the bigger issues at stake.

"One is an environmental problem in the sense that we have a significant proportion of organic material going to the landfill. The reason that's a problem is because it creates greenhouse gas emissions and also because it takes up valuable air space in the landfill," Loewen said.

"The second problem we need to solve is a financial problem. And that's the one that I think is really in our crosshairs today. And I understand, I think, the motivation in trying to reduce the property tax phase in on residents."

'A cost to not doing something'

Zach Jeffries (Ward 10) kept his comments brief.

"There is a financial cost to doing something in 2023. Alternately, there is a financial cost to not doing something in 2023," he said.

Mayor Charlie Clarke said council had to make tough decisions and not "pass on problems to the next generation."

"The decision to go into a city-wide organics program is about making more responsible decisions about the long term management of our waste and dealing with the deficit that's in place," Clarke said.

Troy Davies (Ward 4) and Randy Donauer (Ward 5) came to Dubois' defence.

"This is what happens when we start bringing stuff last minute and it's not debated throughout the entire year [and] we don't see all of our capital expenditures on one line item so we can make those decisions," Davies said.

"I thought that one per cent per year was too steep of a curve for us to ramp up the funding for this program," Donauer said.

Dubois closed the debate.

"The City of Saskatoon has limited financial resources to fund projects programs and services," she said. "And our goal is to provide affordable programs and services while keeping property taxes increases to a minimum. And that's not what we're doing here."