Sudbury mayor 'unhappy' over $2.6 M increase to new garbage contract

Sudbury city council approved a new waste collection contract Tuesday night that will end up costing $2.6 million more than the previous one.

The impending expiration date of the current contractlent some urgency to council's vote, and may have pressured some councillors to approve, said Coun.Fern Cormier.

"We're being told 'Oh my God it's Armageddon, if council, if you don't submit to this $2 million plus gambit, garbage won't get picked up," Cormier said.

"Every politician on earth knows that that's the last thing you want to happen. I'm willing to call their bluff."

But despite the pressure, Mayor Brian Bigger said there was no upside to risking a disruption in waste collection services.

"I'm not willing to risk a break in service or a failure in our waste collection services," Bigger said."We can't play with it at this point in time. So, I'm inclined to approve it, but I'm really unhappy with how we got to this $2.6 million increase."

The new contract, submitted by WilliamDay Construction, was aligned to end in 2021, when waste collection is scheduled to switch from a weekly service to bi-weekly service.

Read the new waste collection contract here.