DIDSBURY - Town council has approved a one-year extension of a one-time $50 rebate program for backyard composters and also approved a summer fee discount to be offered to those residents wanting additional green bins.
The approvals came by way of motions at a recent regularly scheduled Town of Didsbury council meeting, held in person and on YouTube.
The rebate program ran for several months in 2022 and has now been renewed following consideration by the performance review committee at a Feb. 9 meeting.
Since the program didn’t get underway until the end of July 2022 and went to the end of August, the committee recommended the program run again in 2023, said Coun. Dorothy Moore, a member of the committee.
“We are recommending that those things be continued,” Moore said.
Coun. Bill Windsor asked administration if there is a report on how well the program ran last year.
Chief administrative officer Ethan Gorner replied, “That is something we will have to bring back to council. I don’t have that off hand.”
Council carried two motions, including: “That council approve a one-time $50 rebate for backyard composters, to be offered by the Town of Didsbury, for composters purchased at local Didsbury businesses only. The program is to be funded by the waste collection reserve.”
The second motions reads: “That council approve a summer fee discount be offered to those residents wanting additional green bins. For the compost collection season, residents may add additional green bins for a one-time charge of service fee of $15/change, and a monthly collection fee of $3.15 per additional bin.”
Council also discussed options and associated costs for dealing with grass, leaves, and clippings in the spring and summer.
“I think this is a bigger discussion,” said Coun. Windsor. “There were residents who had trailers full of leaves last fall that needed somewhere to go. The green bins aren’t going to cut that, not even close, nor is a backyard composter going to cut that.
“I think it is much bigger conservations about what we are going to do to provide the kind of service that we need to provide to residents, to handle the volume of compostables that we have in the fall when the trees lose their leaves.”
Deputy mayor Curt Engel, who is also on the committee, said, “I absolutely agree with councillor Windsor. It is a bigger issue and what we are trying to do as a committee is look at alternatives.
“One alternative that we are trying to explore has proven to be absolutely unaffordable; the cost is astronomical. Absolutely we agree with you that it is a bigger issue.”
The committee has the public works department looking at alternatives, he said.
“We are not finished with this,” he said.
