Shire of Waroona to impose waste disposal fees on all properties as part of 2023-24 fee charge changes

All landowners in the Shire of Waroona will soon bear the costs of operating the local tip after the council voted to split the cost “equitably” among ratepayers. Up until now, rural landowners who were not part of the weekly rubbish collection service received complimentary passes to the Buller Road waste facility despite not paying any fees toward its operations. Owners of vacant land were also exempt from waste services fees. That is set to change from July, with a $228 waste services levy to be applied on all landholders as part of the council’s 2023-24 budget. Shire president Mike Walmsley said equity was one of the reasons behind the change, alongside compliance with the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act. “Under the Act, all owners that are contributing to waste have to pay towards a waste facility,” he said. “They are expensive to run and they are getting increasing difficult to run. Everyone needs to contribute to the operation of the (Buller Road) facility.” Under the current system, only households receiving the weekly bin service pay a combined $374 waste services levy and kerbside collection fee. The fees brought in a combined $814,946 in funding for the council from about 2180 properties. However, it is not enough to cover the full cost of providing waste services in the Shire, with a shortfall of $63,780 being made up through rates. Under the council’s changes, the levy and fee will be separated, allowing the waste services levy to be extended to all landholders. The change is expected to bring in an additional $129,000 next financial year but the council is predicted to still contribute rates revenue to waste services due to inflationary increases in kerbside collection costs. Cr Walmsley said the changes would, however, hopefully see waste services become less burdensome on the rates revenue balance sheet. “It frees up a bit more funds in the budget,” he said. Among other changes to the Shire’s waste services include an increase in the number of town tip entry passes from six to 12, increasing rural tip pass limits from 240 litres to 1000 litres of waste and allowing additional rural tip passes to be made available to purchase for non-commercial waste. Cr Walmsley is hopeful few extra passes would need to be purchased by rural landholders due to the other changes. “What we would like to see is all rubbish in one central point (at the tip) so it can be dealt with,” he said. “It is about making sure people aren’t burying things or burning things they shouldn’t be.” The vote on the changes was passed 4-2, with Cr Walmsley and Cr Laurie Snell voting against the move.