Thursday, April 2, 2015

Quesnel 2015 Spring Clean-Up cancelled

Courtesy of the City of Quesnel:

As part of the City’s transition to long term financial sustainability and in an effort to address a major revenue shortfall, Quesnel City Council had to make some difficult decisions with respect to the services and programs the City provides.

As mentioned previously, Council needed to find $600,000 in operational savings in 2015 and set out to do so with minimum impacts to staffing levels and program delivery. The only service cut in this year’s budget is the cancellation of the annual ‘‘Spring Clean-Up Campaign.’’

This annual Spring Clean-Up Campaign cost taxpayers approximately $51,800. This non-essential service also required assigning Public Works crews and equipment to garbage pick-up early in the construction season when they could be working on road and sidewalk repairs. Cancelling Spring Clean-Up will allow our Public Works crews to focus instead on much needed infrastructure work, particularly repairs to our streets and sidewalks.

Recognizing that some residents may be inconvenienced by this nonessential service cut, Council made the decision to waive residential landfill tipping fees from April 18 through to and including May 3, 2015. Residential garbage is defined as garbage hauled into the landfill in non-commercial vehicles such as pick-up trucks and utility trailers. Please note that trucks larger than one-ton will be considered commercial vehicles.

The Southills Neighborhood Association supported this decision in a letter it sent to Council after Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson made a budget presentation at one of its monthly meetings. The Johnston Neighborhood Association also supports the decision and will be coordinating, via volunteers, the collection of garden and yard waste only throughout the Johnston Neighborhood on April 22.

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