At its meeting April 3rd, Orangeville council's Finance and Administration Committee will be discussing options for changes to the way the solid waste management program is funded, including a user-pay garbage system.

The committee has received a summary of funding options, including a user-pay system, and their anticipated impact on the town's 2006 operating budget.

Possible service adjustments include increasing the cost of extra bags from $1 to $2, or reducing the number of "free" garbage bags from two to one or zero, or charging $3.35 per bag, for full cost recovery.

The committee is also looking at picking up garbage once every two weeks instead of weekly to reduce costs of solid waste collection, and charging $10 per item for "white goods" (large appliance) collection.

The impact on the budget ranged from no change to $1,496,000 in program savings (for full cost recovery). It was noted, however, that implementation of a user-pay system for garbage is more than just a financial tool.

The Town of Orangeville's solid waste management program includes collection of garbage, blue box recyclables, white goods and yard waste. There is currently a partial user-pay system in place for the collection of garbage, whereby each household is allotted two free bags of garbage per week.

Any bags in excess of the two free bags require a $1 "bag tag." The total cost of the solid waste management program is about $1.5 million annually, of which between two and three per cent is funded by the sale of the "bag tags" with the remainder being funded by tax dollars.

A user-pay system provides a financial incentive to use the recycling program and to compost as much as possible in order to minimize the amount of garbage.

It's expected a full user-pay system would result in a reduction of waste put out for collection.

Taxpayers would still pay for solid waste collection and disposal but in a different way. A user-pay system would increase the percentage of the cost of the solid waste management program funded by "bag tags," thereby reducing the percentage that would be funded by tax dollars. It also allows residents to control how much they spend on solid waste.

Under a user-pay system, there is fairness among taxpayers, as those who use the service more, pay more to cover the costs.

Many municipalities have introduced user-pay systems for waste management, referred to as a "pay-as-youthrow" approach. About 200 Canadian municipalities and 5,000 municipalities in the United States have user-pay programs operating at the present time.

The Finance and Administration Committee will meet April 3, at 7 p.m., in Council Chambers in the Orangeville Town Hall at 87 Broadway.