TO: Mayor and Council March 12th, 1976

FROM: L.D. Pollock City Administrator

Re: Garbage By-law

Council asked sor a further explanation of the charges to be levied under the Garbage By~law and the impact of levying special charges thereby financing the garbage operation by special charges rather than out of the General Tax Levy.

Perhaps some comments on the use of special charges is in order as well.

Philosophy of the "Special Charge"

Municipalities have generally relied very heavily on Real Property Taxation, Many years ago this was the principle source of revenue, however, it does have its drawbacks in that it is a regressive tax, i.e. as a general rule, the burden of tax rests more heavily on those less able to pay. If the Real Property Tax is relied upon solely to finance the many and varied functions of the typical municipality, there would be a great many inequities. As a result of this,

many municipalities over the years have gone away from entirely financing their operations from the Real Property Tax and have looked for other non-property tax revenues, @.g. separate utility billings.for water and sewer use, Licences and Permits, sales of services, etc. In general, where a specific benefit can be identified, it has been the trend to segregate the cost of this service and levy

special charges to finance its operation.

The use of special charges, therefore, provide some solution in that they distribute the tax burden more equitably by benefit for services received and leave the

Property Tax to finance the cost of services that are of general benefit to

property owners.

Refuse Collection and Disposal Costs are cne of the municipal functions that have

quite often been financed by the use of the special charges.

Current Practice

When revision of the Garbage By-law was first discussed, we gathered By-laws and information from a number of municipalities to develop an up to date By-law. Out

of 18 municipalities that responded to our requests, 50% incorporate in their