The Town of Banff will spend $1 million to buy equipment to truck its own garbage to the landfill.
At a meeting on Monday (July 20), council directed administration to buy equipment – highway tractor, day cab tractor, walking floor trailers, service vehicle and hydraulic plant – to be able to haul and dispose of municipal solid waste itself next year.
Paul Godfrey, the Town of Banff’s operations manager, said bringing the service in-house will lead to savings to ratepayers in waste utility rates.
“We believe with this model we’d be able to reduce rates to ratepayers of between two and five per cent,” he said.
“We would come back by the end of this year stating what that reduction would be.”
Currently, as a member of the Bow Valley Waste Management Commission, Banff’s garbage is shipped with that of Canmore and Lake Louise by Boot Trucking to a regional landfill near Camrose.
That contract is set to expire at the end of the year, though there is an option to extend the contracted service for an additional two years, from January 2016 through to December 2017.
Banff currently pays $473,600 a year to have its solid waste trucked out of town, but Godfrey said the Town would see net savings of $80,000 to do it itself and as much as $110,000 with Canmore and Lake Louise included.
Godfrey said the Town of Banff has a service agreement in place with Parks Canada’s Lake Louise field unit to manage its municipal solid waste hauling and disposal, which has a three-year extension option starting Jan. 1, 2016.
“Parks Canada confirmed their intention to maintain the current arrangement,” Godfrey said.
He added there is also an option to include the Town of Canmore.
He said Canmore will be quoted a per tonne unit rate; however, Canmore’s administration cannot provide a commitment because they require Canmore council’s approval to enter into a multi-year agreement.
“If Canmore chooses not to come with us, we don’t need to buy as much equipment,” said Godfrey.
In late 2014, Banff town council voted to run its own water and wastewater utilities instead of contracting the service to Epcor after spending three years negotiating a contract with them.
A cost analysis comparing the private sector with in-house options showed Banff could possibly save $350,000 annually to have the work done by Town staff.
