A Banff councillor believes the newly approved waste and recycling utility will do more harm than good for the community’s still-struggling businesses.
The utility and its corresponding rates, which will be phased in equally over four years, is shifting the system from tax-based to user-pay by volume for commercial properties and as a flat fee for residential.
The utility passed with a narrow margin with only Councillors Chip Olver, Leslie Taylor and Grant Canning, along with Mayor Karen Sorensen, voting in support.
Coun. Stavros Karlos, however, said he had significant concerns with the utility as it will hurt small business owners.
“My concerns have not been allayed. The impact to small business is not insignificant,” he said, adding 40 per cent of Banff businesses will likely see an increase in the amount they pay for solid waste and recycling services.
“These are among our town’s smallest businesses and they see the smallest profits.”
The restaurant industry, for example, he said, sees a profit of 2.43 per cent nationally, while the accommodation industry sees profits of six per cent.
Combined with increasing taxes, high business fees and costs, Karlos said small businesses are being crushed.
As a result, Karlos – whose restaurant took part in the trial with the new recycling bins – said scenarios he ran made it cheaper to simply throw out kitchen waste, instead of composting it.
“It inordinately supports large users and punishes small businesses. This is punitive to small business,” said Karlos.
In a letter to the Town, Bunny Julius, owner and general manager of Melissa’s Missteak, stated the billing is “overly inflated” and that the utility “is financially unfeasible for a small business presently operating in Banff”.
Staff at Melissa’s, Julius wrote, have been sorting and hauling recycling – glass, plastics and organics – to the Town’s recycling depot over the past two years, substantially reducing the amount of garbage that goes to the landfill.
However, Julius added to do that under the new utility would cost his business more.
“Most businesses in town are striving to meet these new requirements and are spending more money to do it. We ask the Town of Banff to recognize this and do its part, rather than putting the entire financial burden on the individual operator,” he said.
Karlos said one of his concerns was that trial utility bills were sent to business owners in November and some have not yet seen their bills.
“I have talked to business owners who have not seen their bills. Landlords do not usually reconcile operating costs to the end of the year. It’s possible that business may not get a firm idea of their operating costs to the fourth quarter. That’s a major concern,” he said.
Karlos suggested using the next year to test the utility, rather than implement it, to give businesses time to adapt and adjust to the new system.
Coun. Leslie Taylor pointed out that businesses and residents are currently paying for the service, even though it was under taxes and, as a result, some businesses would pay less under the new system.
Chad Townsend, environmental services coordinator, said some businesses that generate a large amount of waste and recyclables can expect to pay more under the new utility, but it would be less than if recyclables went into the garbage.
Coun. Grant Canning, who is a small business owner as well, said while he shared concerns about business owners who were not aware of the test bills, it is not just the Town’s responsibility to ensure taxpayers are notified.
He said it is also up to commercial operators to stay abreast of changes and to communicate with landlords.
“The phase-in gives people the opportunity. In my mind, it would be wise to implement it as such and then take time to adjust,” he said.
And no matter how a system is organized, going from a tax-supported to a user-pay system is never a happy situation for those who will have to pay more.
Delaying the utility will not change that, said Coun. Leslie Taylor.
“We were told there’d be some winners and some who would pay more; council has tried to respond to that issue by phasing it in…,” Taylor said, adding it is time to move forward.
Mayor Karen Sorensen said the rates were set for full cost recovery, not as a source for alternative revenue.
“There was ample opportunity for business owners to educate themselves. There is an opportunity to change this; we can move forward at any time. If we have created a huge blunder, we can change this,” said the mayor.
