I am writing in protest of the proposed introduction of tip fees for domestic waste at the Parkes rubbish tip. 

I would have thought the recent approval for a nearly 60 per cent rate rise as well as ever increasing water rates would have provided sufficient revenue for the Council to operate without introducing tip fees. 

I understand that running Council is an expensive operation but I believe charging tip fees is double dipping and a regressive move by an otherwise progressive Council.

The token offer of two free tip days and a council collection day per year are simply inadequate. 

I’ll give you a scenario, someone forgets to put their bin out, this might happen for many reasons, be it illness, a family emergency or simply forgetfulness.

Under the new waste management regime this ratepayer is now charged extra on top of their rates for taking that same rubbish to the tip. 

If this person cannot afford to pay to take it to the tip the bin effectively goes a month without being emptied, as now the bins are only collected fortnightly.

It’s not unreasonable for a ratepayer, who in good faith pays their garbage rates, to expect to be able to access the waste management facility which they pay for, without any additional charges being imposed.

To me, the idea of rotting garbage, or a bin full of dirty nappies for a month is not an ideal situation. What happens to the rural ratepayers, are they just left with no free waste management at all? 

I know of many farmers and those on small semi rural blocks that are not serviced by Council garbage trucks, they still pay their rates though. 

It’s bad enough they pay for a service they don’t get but are they now expected to basically pay double? Most rural ratepayers pay many times more rates than those in town, for what? 

The privilege of bringing your own rubbish to town only to be charged for doing it.

This whole proposal stinks of a Council trying to rip even more money out of ratepayers who are still trying to budget for the recent massive rate rises.

You don’t need to do too much research to find evidence that the introduction of Council tip fees in other locations immediately results in the increased incidents of illegal dumping. 

Councils are fools to believe that this won’t occur in the Parkes Shire. It’s reported that 1 in 10 Councils spend more than $500,000 per year in clean up expenses as a direct result of illegal dumping.

Has a cost/benefit analysis been applied to the cleanup scenario once illegal dumping starts up around Parkes and its villages?

What is the projected cost to our Council?

I want the Council staff doing what they are supposed to do, not going around picking up illegally dumped rubbish.

There is no way possible the Council can install enough hidden camera’s to catch illegal dumpers, it’s a big shire remember. It won’t be long before the whole shire looks like a rubbish tip. 

I know it’s easy to identify problems without solutions but I’d suggest there is a simple and inexpensive solution the Council could adopt.

As I said previously, the token offer of two free tips days a year is simply not enough.

Council should be offering at least one free tip day per month per rateable property.

This could be administered in several ways possible, with a book of 12 non transferable tickets sent out with the first rate notice, or an additional tear away strip of three tokens at the bottom of each quarterly rate notice. 

Another idea could see the ratepayer come into council and on proof of ID and production of their rate notice collect a book of tickets. 

The Council could charge a nominal fee for a book of tickets, making the preparation and printing of any tickets cost neutral. 

Council must be seen to be acting in a manner that is reasonable and fair and not seen as simply raising revenue. 

The newly elected councillors, as well as those old ones would do well to remember they have been elected by the ratepayers to represent our interests.      

Andrew McGrath, Parkes