A tax increase of $100 every six months for each eligible property under the guise of a bag tag increase completely negates the original intention of the bag tag fee.
It was originally intended to encourage people to reduce how much garbage they produce and to, at least partially, load the burden onto the shoulders of people who produce more garbage. The proposal means that people will now be free to produce a bag of garbage a week without penalty and to produce more than a bag a week for the same penalty per bag as producing one. Without too much difficulty, our household produces between eight and ten bags a year. Now, council is forcing us to essentially buy a tag a week, totalling 25 tags for a six month period.
This is short-sighted, environmentally irresponsible and unfair to people who make a genuine effort to reduce their waste in a time when many people are feeling the economic pinch.
Christine and Martin Barstow
Napanee
Napanee