Tipping fees for the demolition of the LaRonde Cultural Centre were waived by city council this week, as the organization is preparing to construct a new and smaller facility on the same site.
In early November of 2015, the landmark building on Mountjoy Street North caught fire and caused significant interior smoke damage. The cause of the fire, which originated in a ground level restaurant kitchen, was later determined to be arson.
A report from Director of Public Works and Engineering Luc Duval stated the preliminary estimate was that at least 150 truck loads of material will be headed to the Deloro landfill. The standard commercial tipping fee is $75 per tonne, in accordance with the municipal bylaw.
Duval said that based on those numbers, which were created with consultation of a project manager from LaRonde, the cash value of the waived tipping fees is $135,000 dollars.
"There's a feeling from our end that it could exceed that amount, and it could actually be over $200,000," he said.
There will be additional costs to manage the increased activity at the landfill through employee hours. A designated area of the dump will need to be prepared and managed on a daily basis. A compactor and bulldozer will be designated to the area. Cover material will be required for safe containment, and the city will be consuming landfill space without any financial return, according to Duval's report.
"We know its an estimate, but its certainly significant in nature."
Duval suggested that some of the lost revenue could be recouped through the CIP (Community Improvement Program).
"So the CIP does provide an opportunity to get $50,000 dollars of rebate in tipping fees, which would be refunded to the Deloro landfill. So its important the LaRonde Cultural Centre knows that, they can apply through the CIP program" said Duval.
Councillor Mike Doody reminded everyone that the last time council waived a major amount of tipping fees was for the alterations to the old St. Mary's Hospital building, now known as St. Mary's Gardens, a retirement complex.
"I see no reason why we can't come to some accommodation for LaRonde. I think they've put a great deal more into what they're trying to do, than they take out of it. I have no problems with the city giving that organization a break for what they have done in the past, and are looking forward to do in the future for this community," said Doody. He also thought the CIP application was a good idea.
Councillor Joe Campbell echoed that sentiment, as did Councillor Rick Dubeau, although he asked Duval to explain CIP funding.
"Its an amount of money available in our budget, in the municipal budget, to support and promote growth in the CIP area. Its an application process to a maximum of what we have in the budget," replied Duval. He said it has been in place for 6 or 7 years.
Councillor Pat Bamford said he was concerned about the potential for extra costs to taxpayers, but did support waiving the fees.
"What we're doing is waiving potential revenue for the landfill site, but its revenue we wouldn't normally have, so its a good contribution to LaRonde," he said.
However, he wasn't on board with the CIP idea.
"I wouldn't think its the right way to go, because what we're doing is charging the taxpayers to put revenue into Public Works. The CIP program, we haven't used for a few years simply because we've been trying to cut back on our budget costs. So I don't see that as a useful route," said Bamford.
Mayor Steve Black asked Duval how the situation would be handled from a budget perspective.
Director of Finance Jim Howie explained.
"What we're doing right now is burying costs, and its not a good practice. When you start burying costs, you won't know how much these are going to cost us in the future," said Howie.
"If we give away our facilities for free in different areas, and offer grants without recording the grants, we won't know where we stand. We had this argument several times in the last council, and we decided that we would always recognize the costs and the grants. They would have zero effect on the bottom line, but at least we would track our costs, we would know where this stuff is coming from. So if LaRonde needs a grant, record it as a grant, and record the revenue for the tipping fees. That's the proper way of doing it," he said.
The city has received $6,172.43 thus far from tipping fees, as more than 68 tonnes of asbestos-laced material has been dumped at Deloro from the LaRonde site. Demolition of the historic building is expected to begin before the end of November.
