No garbage collection rebate for condo owners in 2018 budget

On Tuesday, Regina city council finalized the 2018 budget and it has some condo owners feeling left out.

The condo waste disposal is excluded from the 2018 budget, a measure that would save the city about $250,000.

“When some (condos) were developed a number of years ago, some of our trucks couldn’t get in there,” Ward 8 City Councillor Mike O’Donnell said. “So they would have to hire private services, who might have a different way of getting in there to grab their garbage, and then we would rebate them, just to the people who actually own the condos, not to the ones that were rented out for example.”

Now, condo owners have to hire private contractors for garbage collection, with no tax rebate in return.

“It’s a question about fair taxation,” Brandon Hicks, the Vice President of the Canadian Condominium Institute Southern Saskatchewan chapter, said. “So the people who are paying for some of the services aren’t necessarily getting the services they’re paying for.”

Hicks said the rebate worked out to about $40 a year.

“How they can justify charging for garbage removal when they’re not providing that service. Doesn’t make sense to me,” Real estate broker Dale Ripplinger said.

The rebate doesn’t impact all condo owners in the city. The city provides garbage collection service to about 500 condo units.

Coun. O’Donnell adds city administration is looking at ways to expand garbage services to more condo associations across the city.

“Council was divided, the vote actually was a 6-5 vote,” Coun. O’Donnell said. “The 6-5 was to not give the rebate, but I think because closeness of the vote, I won’t be surprised if it will be revisited again in the future.”