By Chad Ingram

 

A
number of fees in Minden Hills are set to increase, and some new ones
introduced, with a public meeting on those fee changes taking place in
council chambers on May 9. 

 

At
landfills, Minden Hills will start charging for the deposit of brush,
something the township has not done before, but which most surrounding
municipalities do. That fee will be $30 per cubic yard, or a minimum fee
of $15. 

 

There
will be an increase in the per-bag fee for bags of waste in excess of
the three-bag limit. That fee is scheduled to increase from $1 to $2. As
roads superintendent and acting environmental and property operations
manager Travis Wilson told councillors, in the case of the township’s
transfer stations, “that still doesn’t cover the full cost of having to
truck it to Scotch Line [where the main landfill is located] and bury
it.” 

 

The
per-bag fee for un-recycled and unsorted waste will go from $2 to $3,
and the number of car and truck tires that can be deposited at no charge
will decrease from five to four. The fee to dispose of a mattress or
box spring will increase from $10 to $15 per unit. As Wilson told
council, mattresses from the landfills are taking to a facility in the
GTA where they are split open, with usable material from within
salvaged. 

 

“We pay $10 a mattress for them to do that, and we have to ship them down to Mississauga to have that performed,” he said. 

 

The
fee for disposing of boats will now be $8 per foot, and the fee for
disposal of boat shrink wrap will increase from $5 to $26. 

 

New
fees for those on Minden’s water and sewer system include a $75 fee
charged to property owners requesting a final read due to a property
sale or transfer of title, and a $75 charge to set up a new account
following a property sale or transfer of title. Also new will be a fee
charged for statements of account. Anyone requesting a statement of
account for property taxes or water/sewer services will be charged $10,
or $20 if both are being requested. 

 

A
number of administrative fees within the township’s planning department
will increase. The fee for a minor variance application will increase
from $700 to $750; official plan amendments from $1,000 to $1,300;
zoning amendment from $750 to $800; and combined official plan and
zoning amendments from $1,500 to $1,800. The administrative fee for
applications to purchase shoreline road allowances will increase from
$500 to $750. 

A full list of the
proposed fee changes can be found by searching the May 9 Minden Hills
committee-of-the-whole meeting agenda on the County of Haliburton
website.