After multiple discussions, city councillors have formally decided to end amnesty days at Yellowknife’s solid waste facility.
Councillors unanimously voted on Monday evening to scrap the initiative that waived tipping fees for regular residential waste at the dump two to three times per year.
Cat McGurk, previously said they supported the move to axe amnesty days “with a heavy heart,” took a final moment to say “RIP” to the initiative before the vote.
City staff had requested the move, expressing concerns about the safety and cost of amnesty days, which can draw hundreds of vehicles to Yellowknife’s dump.
The municipality said a single amnesty day can cost more than $30,000 – at a time when the landfill is running an annual deficit of $1 million – and overwhelm staff, leading to waste being improperly sorted.
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While councillors were first set to vote on ending amnesty days at a meeting in August, they opted instead to revisit a discussion over whether to implement a voucher system as a replacement before making a decision.
Voucher or no voucher?
City staff had suggested the option of giving two vouchers to every household on Yellowknife’s existing curbside waste cart program, which would allow them to dispose of residential waste at the dump for free twice a year, with some restrictions.
While councillors who attended a July meeting at City Hall expressed little support for that idea, at a subsequent meeting in September, a majority of councillors present said they were in favour of implementing a voucher system that would offer households one free dump trip per year.
Those councillors said the voucher system should serve as a temporary measure as the city gradually moves away from offering free dumping.
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The voucher system was expected to cost the city between $65,000 and $100,000 per year, whereas amnesty days cost $80,000 and $120,000 for two events a year.
This month, the majority of councillors ultimately voted against replacing amnesty days with vouchers.
While councillors Rob Warburton, Garett Cochrane and Steve Payne voted in favour of the voucher system, councillors McGurk, Stacie Arden-Smith, Tom McLennan, Ryan Fequet and Mayor Ben Hendriksen voted down the idea.
McLennan said he hoped requiring residents to pay for extra garbage would reduce the amount of waste produced in the city.
Hendriksen noted that the cost of implementing a voucher system would be similar to the cost for amnesty days while being available to fewer residents. He added that the city plans to track any impacts on illegal dumping to inform future policies.
‘Democracy is an interesting thing’
On Monday, Warburton expressed concern about the amount of time councillors had spent discussing the matter. He cautioned his colleagues about “not thinking all the way through a process just to kill it down.”
“I’m happy we’re doing this, I’m happy we’re back here again, but I feel we could have done this a long time ago,” he said.
“It could have saved a lot of work here if we had just gone with the recommendations from the start.”
Hendriksen noted, however, that the result of council votes can depend on who attends the meeting.
“Democracy is an interesting thing. Depends on who shows up,” he said
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