CSRD residents to pay more in taxes this year to fund landfill closure reserves

Columbia Shuswap Regional District residents will pay an average of $6.40 more in taxes this year, money which will be set aside to pay for future costs associated with closing landfills.

An increase in tipping fees could be on the horizon as well.

At the Jan. 30 committee of the whole meeting, the CSRD board got a look at the first draft of the 2025 budget.

Jodi Pierce, chief financial officer and general manager of financial services, presented plans to fund large reserves for the future closures of landfills.

The landfill closure reserves have a liability of $47 million, but CSRD staff said the money is not going to be all gathered at once.

“In December 2023, the board supported the implementation of a tax component to fund the solid waste closure reserve, which funds closure and post-closure monitoring activities,” Pierce said.

“Last year at this time, the board included a motion to do a phased-in approach to increasing the amounts going into the closure reserve.”

Last year, $300,000 was taken to fund the reserve. For the second phase this year, $600,000 will be pulled from taxation. Pierce said the average residential taxpayer would be paying about $6.40 more in taxes in 2025 to pay for this reserve.

The landfill closure reserve currently holds a total of $955,000. Pierce said $47 million is the eventual amount needed, but the CSRD is not planning to put $47 million into a bank account.

“The CSRD does not need to have the full $47 million in reserve,” she said. “The idea is that $47 million is the present value of the monitoring over the next 100 years.”

Pierce said the intent is to be able to build up reserves so money is available for the closure costs when it comes time, but also to allow the reserves to generate interest, "to build up to account for some future inflationary-type offsets.”

Ben Van Nostrand, general manager of environmental and utility services, said landfills are closed in phases out of reserves.

“We're not waiting for 50 years to close all the landfills and spend $50 million on closure," he said, noting one such project in Revelstoke has four phases.

“We closed phase one in 2023, we have to close phase two, I think in 2026 or 2027, so we have to have the money in reserves to pull for that closure project.”

He said this sort of planning is necessary for each of the four landfills being operated by the CSRD.

Another component of the need for robust closure reserves is the increase in costs associated with closing and monitoring landfills.

Van Nostrand said the costs have continued to rise over the last few years.

“It is significant, and the rules continue to change too, from the province, in terms of what the expectations are for closure and long term liability. ...All of these things continue to evolve, and nothing is pointing in the direction of costs going down."

Director Rhona Martin recommended the regional district find a way to better communicate the need for these reserves with the public.

“The public finds it problematic when we have millions of dollars in reserve, and I think that we need to do a good job of getting the information out as to why we are required to do this,” Martin said.

“When they look at your budget, or they ask you questions about your reserve accounts, and you're saying, 'well, there's so many million dollars in reserve,' they don't understand why. Why are we having to pay more in taxes with this money in reserve?”

Some directors also advocated for an increase in tipping fees to help fund the reserve, but Director Kevin Flynn said raising tipping fees may have unintended consequences.

“Then there's more illegal dumping,” Flynn said. “So there's a real fine balance, but I think it has to be a combination of user fees and taxation.

“I totally agree with both the directors who say people doing the polluting should be paying, but I also know the reality of what happens with illegal dumping."

Martin said the current economic climate makes it harder on low income families to deal with things like increased tipping fees.

“Another $2.50 or $5, you know, is a loaf of bread or a jug of milk for the kids, so we have to keep that in the back of our minds as well,” she said.

Van Nostrand agreed staff would come back to the committee of the whole with a report on what it could look like to raise tipping fees, and the committee could have a more thorough discussion on the matter at that time.