One of the more contentious motions at this year's Local Government Association of Queensland conference in October will be the Waste Levy cost implications for councils.
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The Queensland government imposed a $70 levy from July 1, 2019, to deter waste trucks coming to Queensland from interstate to avoid fees in NSW and Victoria.
Though Mount Isa City Council is thousands of kilometres away from NSW it was controversially included in the scheme despite protests from Council at the time it would cost them $2.1m a year to implement.
The state government provided Council waste levy advance payments to stop the costs of the levy being passed on to ratepayers but that runs out in July 2022.
The LGAQ are putting forward a motion for this end date to be reviewed.
A letter tabled at last Wednesday's council meeting from the Department of Environment and Science noted a supplementary 2021-22 payment of $15,000 for its waste disposal as part of a commitment "the waste levy would have no direct financial impact on households".
The letter said the funds offset the direct cost of the waste levy but it was "a council decision how the supplementary payment will be delivered".
Mount Isa Mayor Danielle Slade said the state government has yet to decide on what happened after July 2022.
"What's heartening is that definitely said they are going to work with councils," Cr Slade said.
"Whatever happens Mount Isa has to look at the recycling option because this is the way of the future."
In 2020 Mount Isa City Council got a $6m grant to build a Materials Recovery Facility at the tip and $4 million of that will be spent this financial year.
Cr Slade said that with the funding guidelines we have to be finished by the end of December 2022.
"At the moment there is nowhere to put the recycling," Cr Slade said.
"We put a survey out to the public and within a week we had 1000 respoinses saying people wanted to recycle. I take it from that snapshot Mount Isa is ready to recycle."
In last week's council meeting the waste management monthly report said the tender for the Material Recycling Facility was due to be advertised the last week of July 2021 and construction was expected to be underway by the end of 2021.
The report also said construction of the Storage Shed at the facility was completed June/July 2021 and Council was waiting on the contractors to come back to site and erect the fence that used to surround the compound.
"The new Waste Transfer Station is close to completion, with minimal design changes that will need to be undertaken before Council can start operations," Cr Paul Stretton told the meeting.
"The asphalt is due to be poured for the road surfaces in the first week of August 2021."
The report also said two new garbage trucks are expected to arrive within the next six weeks "however it is not a confirmed timeframe due to COVID-19 lockdown".
Last week one of the current trucks caught fire on Transfield Ave and while no one was injured in the incident, it adds to the difficulties of maintenance and staffing.
Council said the contents of the truck which caught fire were temporarily emptied out onto Transfield Avenue before the materials were disposed of at the Waste Management Facility.
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
