‘You don’t even pick up our bins and we have to pay?’: Residents fail in bid to get council to lower their rates
RESIDENTS in Adelaide’s west who’ve paid a private contractor to pick up their rubbish for the past three decades wanted their local council to give them rate relief. It wouldn’t. Tell us what you think.
Tell us below: Do you think the cancel is being a bit hard on these residents?
WEST Torrens councillors have voted not to give rates rebates to a group of residents on Henley Beach Rd who have been paying for their own rubbish to be collected for at least 30 years.
The 36 Brooklyn Park unit owners did not have their rubbish collected because it was not practical to line the busy road with 72 bins for rubbish collection each week, council staff said.
West Torrens has a clause in its kerbside waste policy which states that rubbish collection is the responsibility of private owners in “high-density developments” — defined as more than 20 apartments in buildings three storeys and higher.
In more recently built high-density apartment complexes developers have made provisions for more cost-effective rubbish collection where it is deemed that a council collection service cannot be provided.
But this development, built in 1977, has slipped through the cracks.
Frustrated unit owner Dino Spagnoli approached the council last April seeking a council-provided rubbish collection service or rebate to cover the annual council rates paid by unit owners.
“To me its very simple, (the council) collects the rubbish and if (they) can’t collect the rubbish, well, (they) pay it,” Mr Spagnoli said.
The issue eventually went before last Tuesday’s council meeting, where nine councillors voted against a rebate saying rates were for everyone to pay, not to pick and choose. Three voted for a rebate, including Cr Steven Rypp, who said waste collection was one of the basic services ratepayers expected.
“In this case I’m happy to support (a rebate) because they are the services we see and they are the services ratepayers expect us to provide,” he said.
The unit owners at this complex pay private waste collection fees of about $330 per year each, which they’ve been paying for decades.
“It’s $12,000 (in total) for rubbish and I know it’s divided between 36 of us, but that’s not the point,” Mr Spagnoli said. “Why should we pay to collect the garbage when we pay rates?”
The situation was described as uncommon in a letter to Mr Spagnoli dated August 11, 2016.
“Although it is not common for (the) council to require the developers or residents of a property to arrange a private collection service the practise of doing so is becoming more common in our council area as more infill developments occur,” manager of regulatory services, Robyn Butterfield, said. The council’s public document, Entitlement of residential properties to the kerbside waste collection service, stated that where kerbside waste collection and storage was impractical, planning for waste development was the responsibility of the developer.
West Torrens council staff offered the unit owners a $117 rebate for the 2016/17 financial year in February, but Mr Spagnoli argued the rebate was too low. The issue was then taken to the council meeting for the councillors to choose between no rebate, a $117 rebate or a $222 rebate and they voted for no rebate.