City staff will look at whether discounts should be given to some businesses at Thunder Bay’s landfill site.
Manager of Waste Services Jason Sherband told council Monday night if granted, it may mean increased fees for other city services to make up the lost revenue.
“It’s imperative that council understand that we had significant loss of revenue at the landfill in 2020, as a result of COVID-19. The industrial and commercial institutional waste was not operating at full capacity,” says Sherband.
He suggests waiting until the COVID-19 pandemic is over before considering discounts.
The request is getting scrutiny around the table.
Red River councillor Brian McKinnon pointed out he finds the argument for the discount ‘counter-intuitive’. “I would sense that, if I’m dumping more stuff than my neighbour, I should be paying more, not less. It’s like I use water, or electricity… the more I use, the more I pay.”
Councillor Aldo Ruberto asked for detail on how a discount would impact the city economically, while other councillors, who also wanted more information, agreed they didn’t want to add more work to what city staff is already doing.
The motion was brought forth by Northwood’s Shelby Ch’ng, who said she’s received several insistent requests from a business owner the discount be granted.
