Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Palmerston Mayor Athina Pascoe-Bell says ratepayers and businesses will soon be hit with extra costs to dispose of their waste due to Darwin Council’s hike in commercial waste fees at the Shoal Bay dump

Transcript

Palmerston Mayor Athina Pascoe-Bell says ratepayers and businesses will soon be hit with extra costs to dispose of their waste due to Darwin Council’s hike in commercial waste fees at the Shoal Bay dump · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Please to say that joining me in the studio right
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: now is the Palmerston Mayor, Athena Pasco Bell. Good morning
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to you, Athena, good morning. Great to have you in
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  Speaker 1: the studio. Now. I know that the Palmeston councils raise
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: some concerns about the City of Darwin Council's proposed increase
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to the commercial waste charge at the Shoal Bay facility.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Talk us through exactly what's been proposed here and what
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: it will mean.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so they're proposing that the commercial charge at Shoalbay
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: will increase by about thirty percent for next financial year.
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  Speaker 2: And the City of Palmeston is categorized as a commercial operator.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: So when we our garbage trucks pick up the rubbish
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  Speaker 2: from every household in Palmeston as well as Archer and
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  Speaker 2: it goes to Shoal Bay, and we're currently charged one
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: hundred and fifteen dollars a ton for that waste. Each
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: household generates about one ton of rubbish each year, but
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  Speaker 2: with the thirty percent increase, that's going to go up
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  Speaker 2: to one hundred and fifty dollars a ton, which means
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: we have to pass that on to our residents for
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: collecting their waste. But even more concerning is that there's
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  Speaker 2: another category which we're not really clear about at this
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: stage and they haven't provided any detail on it, and
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  Speaker 2: that's domestic waste that's contaminated with green waste, and that's
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  Speaker 2: proposed to go up to one hundred and ninety dollars
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: a ton. So that's an extra seventy five dollars a ton.
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  Speaker 2: If that means that all of our trucks have lawn
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  Speaker 2: clippings and palm fronts and things like that in it,
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  Speaker 2: they could mean a huge increase to Palmerston. And not
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: only that, but everyone who has a commercial operation. We've
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: got fifteen hundred businesses in Palmerston, all of their commercial
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  Speaker 2: charges will increase by a minimum of thirty percent as well.
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  Speaker 1: And so essentially what's happened here is the Darwin City
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  Speaker 1: councilor is raising all of those all of those prices
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  Speaker 1: for Palmerston, so passing that cost on obviously to the
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  Speaker 1: Palmeston Council.
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  Speaker 2: And all of the other councils in the area as well.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: So everyone that uses Shoalbe and that's Lichfield. I think
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: some of the more regional councils as well like Kmali,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: bell Ywn and Wiggui as well, So it's a huge increase.
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  Speaker 2: We don't have any more capacity in our waste reserved
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  Speaker 2: to absorb that cost, so we're going to have to
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  Speaker 2: pass those costs onto our rate payers this year. But
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  Speaker 2: it's a little bit concerning because if they are considering
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  Speaker 2: green waste as a contaminant, then it would have been
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  Speaker 2: good to have a bit of notice. Even twelve months
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  Speaker 2: would have been good for us to plan what we're
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: going to do with it, but we didn't realize that
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  Speaker 2: they were going to introduce new categories as well.
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  Speaker 1: Is it quite surprising or is it a surprise to
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  Speaker 1: the Palmeston Council that they're doing this without actually speaking
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  Speaker 1: to you first.
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  Speaker 2: The CEO did flag with us that there would be
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  Speaker 2: an increase of twenty to thirty percent, so you know,
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  Speaker 2: we acknowledge that that was communicated to us, but we're
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  Speaker 2: still a bit concerned about the contamination charge, which could
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  Speaker 2: be as much as one hundred and ninety dollars a ton,
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  Speaker 2: and we don't have a green waste bin in Palmeston,
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  Speaker 2: so anyone who mows their lawn and picks up their
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  Speaker 2: palm fronds are likely just to put them in that
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  Speaker 2: red bin and if that's considered contamination, then we're going
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  Speaker 2: to have to pay that extra one hundred and ninety
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  Speaker 2: dollars a ton fee. So we're trying to get some
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  Speaker 2: indication from the City of Palms for City of Darwin
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  Speaker 2: as to what it actually means. But at a minimum,
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  Speaker 2: we likely to have to increase rate waste charges to
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  Speaker 2: cover those costs.
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  Speaker 1: And so in terms of residents out in Palmerston and
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  Speaker 1: how much that is potentially going to go up, what
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  Speaker 1: are you thinking at this stage?
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  Speaker 2: Look, that on its own is thirty five dollars per
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  Speaker 2: household a year a year, and then we've also got
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  Speaker 2: our other contractual obligations, so there are increases fixed in
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  Speaker 2: the contracts that we have for curbside collection and also
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  Speaker 2: the services that we provided Archer. So it's going to
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  Speaker 2: go up by quite a bit and we are concerned
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  Speaker 2: about doing that, but we won't have any choice this
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  Speaker 2: coming financial year those charges are implemented.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: So when is the Palmerston Council delivering the budget and
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: when can people expect to get a better understanding of that.
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  Speaker 2: We are considering the budget tonight and if all goes
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  Speaker 2: to plan. It'll be released in the next few days
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  Speaker 2: for community consultation and we'll have a big announcement about
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  Speaker 2: that coming up.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we'll make sure that we get you back on
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  Speaker 1: the show to find out more about that. But I
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  Speaker 1: do want to ask, is this the first increase in
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  Speaker 1: waste fees by the Darwin City Council in recent times
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  Speaker 1: or has there been a bit of a trend on
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  Speaker 1: the upwards over the last few years.
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  Speaker 2: There has been an increase over the last few years,
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  Speaker 2: increments of between sort of seven and ten percent, and
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  Speaker 2: it has increased by about forty percent over the last
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  Speaker 2: five years. The smaller increases aren't the real concern. It's
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  Speaker 2: this great, big increase at the moment and that uncertainty
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  Speaker 2: about the general waste with green waste contamination that we're
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  Speaker 2: just unsure about at this stage. It could mean an
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: extra seventy five dollars per household if that does actually
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: mean that if you put your green waste in your
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  Speaker 2: red bin will be charged extra for it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, so potentially an additional seventy five dollars a
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  Speaker 1: year in terms of you know, you're rubbish, And then
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  Speaker 1: council is still all the Palmerston council is still going
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: through that budget. It's going to be considered tonight and
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  Speaker 1: we'll be released them for discussion throughout the next couple
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  Speaker 1: of weeks. So I suppose it does mean that there
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: could be some you know, some some costs going up
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  Speaker 1: for residents out in Palmerston.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we are working very hard. So the staff
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  Speaker 2: have done a really good job so far of trying
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  Speaker 2: to keep the increases to an absolute minimum, looking at
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  Speaker 2: every contract that we have in detail to see how
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  Speaker 2: much it's going to go up next year, and we'll
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: have to adjust our normal rates by that amount. But
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  Speaker 2: the waste has been flagged at least thirty percent more.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, it is. I mean, it is a big
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  Speaker 1: cost for people. I'm sure. Before I let you go, Athena,
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  Speaker 1: I know that we had when we'd spoken to the
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Darwin City Council last week. I wasn't aware of these changes,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: but they had spoken about some of the different things
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: that they've had to do in their budget due to
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  Speaker 1: the issues that we've seen with anti social behavior and crime.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I know that they are investing some additional money for
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  Speaker 1: the rangers to try and try and sort through some
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  Speaker 1: of the issues closer to town and also cleaning up
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  Speaker 1: some of the rubbish and that's been left around the
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  Speaker 1: place associated with that anti social behavior. Is the Palmerston
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  Speaker 1: Council having to consider anything like that as part of
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: the budget.
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  Speaker 2: We've already been undertaking a number of initiatives, including a
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: lot of bottle pickup from people drinking in public places.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: We've introduced security patrols at a cost to the rate
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  Speaker 2: payer as well. So these things are already occurring and
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: they're ongoing.
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  Speaker 1: It's a pretty crappy situation, isn't it that the councils
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: are having to sort of do that. I get you know,
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  Speaker 1: we all understand that there's different issues that we're having
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  Speaker 1: to deal with, but it is an added expense and
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: it is a difficult situation you've got to deal with.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it is really disappointing. We've never had to
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  Speaker 2: run security patrols in Palmerston previous to the last couple
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: of years, so it is disappointing that we've had to
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: introduce them to keep the community safe, especially during the
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: day when they come into the city center to go
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  Speaker 2: shopping and access all the other services that we have there.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: You know, we're always open to working with government and
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  Speaker 2: all the agencies involved. The police have done an absolutely
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: fantastic job the last month or so. While we've had
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: visitors in from kal Karini, Dagaragu and Pigeonhole. Yep, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they've been really responsive. So I can't thank the police
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  Speaker 2: enough for helping us out in dealing with a lot
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  Speaker 2: of the issues that we've seen in our city center
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  Speaker 2: over the last few weeks and months or so. But
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  Speaker 2: we are really keen to go back to a fairly
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  Speaker 2: normal situation. It'd be good to not have to have
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: additional security patrols operating and having additional security in the
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: library and rec center as well, but unfortunately, at this stage,
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  Speaker 2: I think it's just going to have to continue.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, do you reckon that You'll see a quietening down
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: of things a little bit as some of those residents
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: do head back to their communities.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: We did see a drop off in some of that
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: behavior the last couple of weeks as they've started to return.
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  Speaker 2: I will be speaking with the Chief Minister about when
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: the remaining people be returning, because I know that that
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  Speaker 2: not all of them have opted to return voluntarily, so
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  Speaker 2: obviously there's still some sleeping rough around the place and
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  Speaker 2: be good to know what government's plan is to return
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  Speaker 2: those additional people who've decided that they didn't want to
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: return on the bus services that were returning.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Yes, the community spot on, because you know, you don't
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  Speaker 1: want those people sleeping around Palmerston and sleeping around, sleeping
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: rough around the city when they do have homes in
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: the communities. And I get that people are entitled to
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: travel around freely, but you also don't want associated issues
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  Speaker 1: in terms of people publicly drinking or doing the wrong thing.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: That's right. And I also have to thank the liquor
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  Speaker 2: outlets in our city center for reducing their operating hours,
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  Speaker 2: which has made a significant difference because once that alcohol
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  Speaker 2: is not available after about eight pm, it really does
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  Speaker 2: settle down.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that is good to hear. Lathena Pasco Bell, the
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Mayor of Palmerston. Always appreciate your time and we'll get
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: you back in the studio. Will certainly get you back
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: on the show once that budget is delivered. So thanks
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: so much for having a chat with us today.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.