Napanee Council roundup: $200 garbage collection tax levy, school expansion, and controversial land sale

At its Tuesday, Apr. 25, 2023 meeting, the Council of the Town of Greater Napanee voted to support a $200 tax levy for garbage pickup, something that had been vehemently opposed by several citizens who made deputations, emailed their concerns to Council, and voiced objections on social media.

Currently, the Town sells bag tags at $3 per tag for each bag placed at the curb for collection; citizens can also purchase tags for up to $3.50 per tag from certain retailers in town. At the Thursday, Mar. 30, 2023 budget meeting, it was proposed by Town staff that a tax levy be implemented and bag tags be mailed out to residents: 25 tags with a $100 tax levy for the rest of 2023, increasing to 50 tags with a $200 dollar levy for 2024. This was proposed by staff as a way of meeting the rising cost of garbage management while “reducing the need for subsidization” for garbage collection from other town funds.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Apr. 17, 2023, the Town explained the proposed tax levy, saying that with the existing process, the revenue from bag tag sales only funds a portion of curbside collection costs for garbage and recycling: “The current process requires the entire tax base to subsidize the remainder (greater than 50 per cent) of the costs for curbside collection. The fixed costs for curbside garbage and recycling collection represent approximately 70 per cent of the annual cost of curbside collection, so regardless [of whether or not] a resident puts garbage or recycling out, we are still paying for the truck to pass by each property.”

The post continued, “If no changes were made to the bag tag system, all property owners would subsidize the curbside collection on their tax bills by $849,000, regardless of whether they dispose of any garbage or recycling through curbside collection. The levy will reduce this amount to $454,000 in 2023 and reduce the subsidy through general taxation to almost $0 in 2024, so that the only people paying for curbside collection are those who have the ability to use it. To achieve a similar result without a special tax levy, bag tag rates would need to be increased to $6.50 per bag tag instead of $4.00.”

On Tuesday, opposition to the waste collection levy was voiced by residents Martin Barstow, Ron Murray, and Jeff Chestnut in the form of official deputations. 

Barstow spoke to the original intention of bag tags: “About 20 years ago, the town’s solid waste advisory committee recommended [to] Town Council that they bring in the bag tags, and their goal was twofold at that time. The first was to institute a user-pay system so that the more garbage you produced, the more you’d have to pay to dispose of it. And the other one was [that] it was supposed to go to a public education campaign to teach people how to reduce their waste.” Therefore, he said, this levy is only punishing people who have tried diligently to reduce their waste, by making them pay the same as people who put out a bag every week or more.

Ron Murray quoted from a social media post written by his wife, Marilyn Murray: “Children are taught at an early age the importance of the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. They are also taught that, of the three, reduce is the most important. The current user-pay bag tag system reflects this fair system. As a household of two, with composting and recycling, we produce one bag of garbage every four or five weeks.”

“Buried garbage in landfills produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change,” Murray continued. “We should be working hard as a community to reduce the impact for the sake of our children. We understand costs have increased and are happy to pay more for our bag tags, but we don’t feel it is fair [for us to have] to subsidize the cost of other people’s bag tags.”

“There is a fourth R: it’s Rethink. I ask Council to rethink this new bag tag tax levy proposal. As a resident, a parent, and a grandparent, I ask you to have a vision for the future of our community that embraces sound environmental principles,” Murray urged, noting that he supports increasing the price per tag rather than foisting unwanted tags on people who do not need or desire them.

Murray also raised the point that the Town’s own Waste Diversion Committee was not given an opportunity to discuss or give input on the levy bag tag issue. “It seems to me,” he observed, “that would have been a prudent thing to do, to consult that committee [which] was made up of staff and volunteers who are very knowledgeable on this topic.”

Jeff Chesnut also spoke against the levy and suggested the Town charge more per bag instead, even up to $6.50 per tag, as a responsible step to encourage citizens to reduce their waste and their contribution to greenhouse gases.

Of Council, only Councillor Bill Martin spoke vehemently against the tax levy, saying that a $200 per household levy was unfairly punitive to those who could least afford it.

In a recorded vote to proceed with the levy and bag tag mailout — the caveat being that the issue could be revisited at any time — all members of Council voted yes except for Martin, who voted “emphatically no.”

J.J. O’Neill School expansion presentation

Another topic of interest was a presentation for information by Bryan Davies, Controller of Plant and Planning Services for the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board (ALCDSB), about the coming expansion of J.J. O’Neill Catholic Elementary School on Marilyn Drive.

J.J. O’Neill was opened as a  temporary portable school in the fall of 1977. By January 1984, the school had expanded to seven classrooms in a permanent building with additional portables as needed. 

In February 2022, the Ministry of Education issued a funding announcement for the construction of an addition to the existing school to create 331 student learning spaces in 14 classrooms. In addition, the renovated school will also provide three new child care rooms, which will accommodate 49 licensed child care spaces open to the public. ALCDSB is currently working with the Ministry of Education and Infrastructure Ontario on the school design, including the possible site modifications. 

As part of this construction project, ALCDSB would like to improve parking and traffic flow, both on the school site and in the surrounding neighbourhood. In order to create a safer separation between buses, passenger vehicles, and pedestrians, Davies explained, the ALCDSB is interested in purchasing the vacant land that was once home to a town ball diamond directly in front of the school.

This would allow an expansion of the parking lot, which is currently just big enough to accommodate the current staff with little room for visitor parking, and would allow for the increased number of school staff, child care workers, and school and child care parents to have space while avoiding buses and child pedestrians. 

Council noted and received the presentation regarding the J.J. O’Neill Capital Project.

Trail or Sale Meeting

With regards to the upcoming public meeting on the proposed sale of lands north of Highway 401, the former CN rail line that many citizens would like to see used for a recreational all-purpose trail, Town Clerk Jessica Walters explained that the Strathcona Paper Centre was not sufficiently equipped to live stream the meeting, but that the town would do everything it could to make the meeting more accessible, including recording it for viewing afterward. 

Originally, Council had declared it would hear any person wishing to provide comments on the proposed sale of these lands at the regular Council meeting being held Tuesday, May 9, 2023. However, in a public notice, the Town changed the date and location of the meeting due to the high degree of interest expressed by members of the public. The meeting is now scheduled to take place Thursday, May 11, 2023 at 7 p.m. in the banquet hall at the Strathcona Paper Centre (16 McPherson Drive, Napanee).

Any person wishing to provide written comment for Council’s consideration or wishing to receive more information on this matter may contact Jessica Walters, Town Clerk, at [email protected] or 343-302-5238. For inclusion on the agenda, comments must be received by noon on Monday, May 8, 2023.

As always this is but a smattering of the goings-on at Greater Napanee Town Council. You can watch this and every meeting virtually on the Town’s YouTube channel and follow along with the agenda on the Town’s Civic Web Portal.