Redland City Council will consider imposing tip fees for residents who make excessive use of the Birkdale and Redland Bay dumps, at the monthly meeting tomorrow.
The proposal set out in an officers’ report is for residents to be charged tip fees if they exceed 26 visits per year to a mainland recycling and waste centre.
Dump users exceeding 26 visits per year would be charged the rates currently imposed on commercial users if the proposal is adopted.
The Council resolved to remove all waste disposal fees for residents disposing of waste from domestic premises at a general meeting in May 2012, soon after Karen Williams was first elected mayor. Keeping tips free was one of her 2012 campaign promises.
When running for re-election in 2016 Karen Williams’ election ‘pledges’ included that she would keep tips/dumps free.
At the 2020 local government elections, free tips were again part of the Karen Williams mayoral campaign. She claimed credit for making tips free in 2012 and said that she intended to “maintain this benefit for residents, helping keep our community free of illegal dumping and saving our residents money.”
But the officers’ report makes clear that a universal free tips policy is not in the best interests of the community, with residents who use tips infrequently cross-subsidizing a small number of users responsible for a disproportionate amount of mixed waste and green waste received.
The proposed introduction of tip fees for users making more than 26 visits per year is expected to result in annual revenue of $471,000, according to officers’ forecasts.
Which begs the question, why has the Council only woken up to the unfairness of its free tips policy after ten years?
The officers’ report does not explain why the limit for free tips is being set at 26 visits per year. If the free tip trips limit is set at a lower level e.g. 12 per year then presumably the Council would raise more revenue from excessive dumpers and the waste management charges would be more closely aligned with the user pays principle.
Perhaps the limit will be reduced gradually over the next few years, after the next local council elections on 16 March 2024.
More dogs on large properties
On Wednesday the Council will consider changes to dog laws which would allow owners of large properties with multiple residences to keep up to four dogs, up from the current limit of two dogs.
Community consultation about the proposed change to dog laws resulted in 425 submissions with 413 regarded as properly made.
Of the 413 properly made submissions received, there were 160 (38.7%) who agreed with the proposed changes and 253 (61.3%) who disagreed with the proposed changes.
The officers’ report says that the keeping of dogs can impact on wildlife and other people, should effective measures not be in place and accompanied by adequate enforcement.
But the report goes on to recommend that that Council proceeds with the increase in dog numbers for properties greater than 10,000m² with more than one lawful, occupied, self-contained dwelling from two to four without the requirement for an approval.
Two councillors (Karen Williams and Julie Talty) are owners of properties greater than 10,000m² as noted in an earlier report by Redlands2030.
Confidential items
- 20.1 Register of Fees 2023-2024
- 20.2 2022-2023 Round 2 – Sponsorship Program – Application for Major Sponsorship – S23-R2-001
- 20.3 2022-2023 Round 2 – Sponsorship Program – Application for Major
- Sponsorship – S23-R2-007
- 20.4 Lease Extension – Cleveland
About Redland City Council meetings
People can attend and observe Redland City Council meetings but very few seats are available in the Council chambers. So get there early if you want to see the live action.
Latecomers get to watch proceedings on a TV screen in another room.
Redland City Council meetings are now live streamed on YouTube.
Several days after the meeting the minutes will be published. We can’t understand why it takes so long. Minutes used to be available within 48 hours.
The agenda for this meeting, including officers’ reports for non-confidential items, is available on the Council website.
Redlands2030 – 16 March 2023
Please note: Offensive or off-topic comments will be deleted. If offended by any published comment please email thereporter@redlands2030.net
2 Comments
I’m sorry but Karen Williams can not be trusted after her discussing driving accident she had earlier and we are expected to believe everything that she says is for the better of the Redlands I don’t think so. I would like to know how she would have acted if it was some other employee of Redland city council that smashed a council car while driving drunk would they still have a job, I bet no.
What goes around comes around.