Tipping fees will continue to rise over the next few years at the Foothills dump as the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George works to shrink the funding gap on landfill closure costs.
The solid waste budget is one of the regional district's main budget drivers, alongside 911 service.
Other costs that have to be considered are the renewal of a variety of contracts, which are likely to cost more in 2014, said environmental services manager Petra Wildauer.
"Contract services costs and transportation costs increase on an annual basis of two to three per cent," she said. "The new contracts, in particular caretaker and hauling contracts, came in slightly higher than anticipated [in 2013]."
Tipping fees will increase by $5 per tonne to $62 per tonne, eventually reaching $90 per tonne by 2019.
The small load user fee (for household waste weighing less than 100 kg) introduced last September at the Foothills dump will also be maintained. The fee generated $107,131 in 2013.
There's no plan to increase the amount of tax money collected from last year's $3.8 million, despite an increase to costs by nearly $230,000.
Brian Skakun, sitting in at the regional district board for mayor Shari Green, said the tipping fee issue was a "bit of a vicious cycle" given the continued increase, despite a decrease in what comes across the scale through waste reduction efforts.
The local tipping fees are still lower than in many parts of the province, said chief administrator Jim Martin, and the Foothills facility operated for nearly three decades without any incoming revenue outside of what was collected in taxes. "We're playing catch up in that respect as well."
User fees for solid waste services account for 44 per cent of the department's revenue.
The regional district is also looking at the potential sale of landfill gas emission credit trading. According to Wildauer, an expression of interest could be released this month, which will give them some insight on whether there's a market.
