Dear Sir:
I came to Terrace in July 1973. Through this time, nearly 44 years, nobody other than myself has ever taken any garbage from my property and I usually make about two trips by car each year to the dump.
I do not make much trash. My recyclables went to the right places such as the bottle depot or the food cans (washed and delabelled) to the metal recycler on Queensway.
Now the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine is once again demanding $100 for six months of removing my trash which they have never had to do.
I have often gone around my area of Copper Mountain just to check how many people put out trash on Tuesday.
The answer is always slightly less than half of all the homes.
For those who do not need frequent pick ups, a more equitable fee would be for a charge by quantity at delivery to a central point, and each address being given one of two signs – ‘pick up’ or ‘no pick up’ and no charges on the no pick up addresses. And perhaps a reevaluation of the current charges to the rest.
The present practice of a blanket charge on those who do not need frequent pick ups is inequitable and unfair. Of course, we can be told “it’s the bylaw” but who made the bylaw? The same people who charge us.
It’s just like the mafia in certain areas – they decide that a business is charged a certain regular amount and if it is not paid, the owner may find himself and family and/or businesses premises are all damaged.
If I do not pay the garbage tax, the charge goes on my property tax. If I still don’t pay it, my home is confiscated for non-payment of taxes.
I see a great deal of similarity between the mafia and the regional district. I have often made by cheque to the Rapacious District of Kitimat-Stikine and it is always accepted.
I curse those who are not affected by the Thornhill charges for going along with the charge. I assume they hope that the Thornhill representatives will agree to their little hobby-horse projects in return.
Just because a council has a legal power to make a charge does not make the charge fair or honest. It can be an easy way to raise a lot of money.
The truck that goes around Copper Mountain is done by 1 p.m. for a charge of $40,000 a year.
I do not believe this is anywhere close to the overall disposal charges and that it makes a lot of general revenue. Before the charges were made, one man at anytime looked after the Thornhill dump.
Last time I went there, there were two women in the shack, another at the tip-point and a man using a weed-whacker in an isolated area.
Is it any wonder that the bureaucrats charge us $200 a year for what many do not want?
Frank Giffard,
Thornhill, B.C.
