Council withdraws from refuse collection

There was a brief reprieve granted to Westmeath County Council's bin waiver scheme at October's meeting of the council, but council members voted to withdraw from providing a waste collection service to 11,000 households. Also including the Athlone Town Council area. The councillors were presented with a report on the council's waste collection and disposal strategy, which recommended that the council withdraw from waste collection, scrap the bin waiver scheme, close Ballydonagh next spring and sell off its waste collection service. The council executive informed members that if the report was not implemented in full the council faced making a loss in excess of €600,000 next year in this area alone. In what was a tempestuous meeting, it was decided to establish a committee to discuss the possibility of rescuing the waiver scheme, while adapting the remainder of the report, a deal brokered by Fianna Fáil councillors, who had the support of the Fine Gael side of the house, with Labour choosing the abstain from the vote. The decision came as councillors spent two hours debating a report on the council's waste disposal strategy, which outlined a series of cost-cutting measures. Among these included a recommendation that the bin waiver scheme - a measure aimed at reducing bin costs for the elderly and low-income families - be dropped. While Fine Gael councillors welcomed the report and signalled their intention to support it, plans to drop the waiver scheme were met with hostility by both Labour and Fianna Fáil councillors. Fine Gael's Cllr Mark Cooney told the meeting he supported the report and said he was concerned about the impact on the budget if the councillors didn't support the report. County Manager Danny McLoughlin explained that the private sector was able to charge 30 percent less for bin collection because of working arrangements. "We have to deal with inevitability of our financial constraints," he said, adding that if councillors were to delay on making a decision, the council would not be able to guarantee ratepayers a service in January. With regard to the waiver scheme, Mr McLoughlin said there would be sufficient competition among private operators to keep prices to a certain level, cushioning the blow for customers using the waiver. He said that although the recent Commission on Taxation report recommended that private operators be compelled to institute a waiver system, Westmeath County Council could not force them to do so. "I cannot in conscience ask you to defer a decision, because you would put off the inevitable and put at risk our ability to secure further funds for this council," Mr McLoughlin warned. Offering a counterproposal to Fine Gael, Labour's Cllr Mick Dollard suggested that a decision on the matter be deferred until after the December budget. Backed by Cllr Denis Leonard, he also called for members to support a proposal for a national waiver system. But the motion annoyed a number of Fianna Fáil party members, who accused Labour of sitting on the fence despite the two parties' shared position on the waiver issue. Cllr Frankie Keena said he had serious problems with parts of the proposal put in front of him and said it was a shame that it had come to this. He asked if the council was serious about waste collection how could it not overcome the difficulties like the private sector had. Cllr Keena said he was disappointed with the lack of marketing of the existing service over the years to try and source new customers. "Obviously if we had more customers we would be in a better position financially and better equipped to offset the loss of some customers," he said. Cllr Gabrielle McFadden said the Fine Gael party had a social conscience, but it would be naive to think they could continue with the scheme as it was. She said a business could not be run at a €600,000 loss. She added that it broke her heart to do it as there were people out there who needed the waiver scheme. However, Cllr McFadden pointed out that only people who lived on the Allied Waste Management (the council's contractors) route were eligible for the waiver and said it was unfair on people who did not live on the correct route. She said a national waiver scheme, run along the same lines as electricity and travel allowances would be best. Fianna Fáil's Cllr Kevin 'Boxer' Moran welcomed the closure of Ballydonagh landfill, but said he was concerned at the council's withdrawal from the waste collection service and the waiver scheme. However, he said, as a businessman, he understood if he lost too much money he would simply go out of business and it was the same for the council. Fianna Fáil's Cllr Aidan Davitt called for the waiver scheme to be salvaged, but streamlined. He suggested that an all-party committee be set up to look at the feasibility of continuing the waiver scheme in some form. After a brief adjournment, FF councillors agreed to support the executive's recommendation to pull out of the waste collection business, subject to the establishment of a three-man committee, which would discuss the waiver issue. Fine Gael members indicated that they were also amenable to the counterproposal and a vote was taken. Only the Labour group - sticking to their opinion that the matter should be deferred until after the December budget - abstained from the vote. It is anticipated the committee will report back to the full council on the feasibility of retaining the bin waiver scheme before the council holds a pre-budget meeting in November. However, it remains to be seen how the scheme, which until now has been funded from the sale of bin tags, can be retained. Athlone Town Council will discuss its future plans, both for waste collection in the area and the bin waiver scheme, at the council's November monthly meeting. - Click here to download the PDF of these details