Breakdown on fees for black, blue, and green bins to remain on Calgary city services bills

Calgary city council has voted against amalgamating fees for black, green, and blue bin collection on service bills sent to residents in a meeting Tuesday.

As is, the three separate charges are separated on the bill.

In debate, councillors were concerned that removing the breakdown of the bill could make it more difficult for Calgarians to understand what they are paying for.

“I think it also puts us in a position where, in the instance that the cost to deliver one of these carts goes up, it’s now a single line item, it’s just gone up,” said Ward 9 Coun. Harrison Clark. “How do we articulate how and why?”

Mayor Jeromy Farkas thinks one of the best parts of the Calgary property tax bill is seeing how much you actually pay for city services.

“And just having one big payment for a bunch of things doesn’t invite that conversation about the great value that Calgarians are getting,” he said. “I believe amalgamating this and having one single bill payment is trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. If anything, I’d like to see us go in a different direction.”

In support of the idea, Ward 4 Coun. DJ Kelly pointed out that the cost for each service is not exact, and one charge would be simpler.

“When we brought on blue cart, when we brought on green cart, we kind of did them incremently,” he said. “It really is, as Coun. [Andrew] Yule said in his open, it’s basically one service now.”

Most of council disagreed, with many arguing listing the cost per cart is good for transparency of fees.

Councillors ultimately voted 10-5 against changing the status quo.