THE City of Ballarat’s annual waste management service charge has soared by almost 10 per cent.
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The charge covers the weekly collection of household waste and the fortnightly collection and disposal of recyclables.
In the coming financial year, each household will be slugged with a $284 fee compared with the $260 charged the previous year.
The figure was revealed in the council’s annual draft budget released earlier this month.
Ballarat councillor Belinda Coates said the increase was due to the rising operational costs of the city’s landfill.
She said every year waste management fees go up in line with the costs to the council.
“The amount of waste going into the landfill has been increasing every year and therefore the costs to operate it increase,” she said.
“The cost of running the landfill is exuberant and one of the biggest costs for the council every year. It is the single biggest cost for the council and it is increasing all the time.”
Cr Coates said the council also had to pay a hefty landfill levy to the state government.
The idea of the state government levy is that a portion of the money is returned to council in the form of funding to help it educate residents on how to better dispose of their rubbish. But Cr Coates said the council only received a “tiny” percentage of the levy.
Last year, Ballarat’s landfill in Smythesdale was the subject of controversy after it was revealed the council, which manages the site, had continued to breach its licence by failing to report monitoring levels and failing to report back on a pollution abatement notice.
In February, council revealed extensive works were undertaken to comply with stringent Environmental Protection Authority requirements to provide sufficient capacity for future waste placement.
melissa.cunningham@fairfaxmedia.com.au