ENDERBY – If you saw someone dumping a mattress at the side of the road, would you report them? Would it change your answer if you could earn a $200 reward for turning them in?
Cash rewards for tips on illegal dumping is exactly what the City of Enderby is planning to introduce as it tries to stop people from tossing their trash where it doesn’t belong.
The municipality plans to start asking the public to report illegal dumping through the City’s website.
“We hope to ticket those people when they are caught. They will be fined and a reward will go to the person who provided the information,” said Enderby’s mayor Greg McCune.
A staff report suggests the city should also institute new dumping fines of up to $1,000.
“Every time that our crew has to go out and pick stuff up that people throw off to the side of the road the tax payer pays for it,” said the city’s chief administrative officer Tate Bengtson.
“What we want to do is try to ensure that our community recognizes that and hopefully is even incentivized to be proactive and mobilize themselves to report these times.”
City council will have to pass new bylaws before the proposed fine and reward system becomes official.
The details have yet to be finalized, but right now the proposal is to give tipsters a $200 reward only if the person responsible for the illegal dumping is caught and pays the fine.