The Independent

Come 2022, Petrolia residents will pay more for using the new compost transfer station.

The Maude St. facility was reopened four years after council first shut it down. The Ministry of the Environment ordered it to make changes to the way the town was operating the site. Staff at the time suggested the MOE wanted a fence erected around the large property, although the ministry orders did not state that.

During the 2018 election, several of the candidates, who are now councillors, promised to reopen the site. That finally happened this year, although it has become a drop off point instead of the centre which once created its own compost to sell.

Residents, who for the previous three years had paid a $20 fee to use a transfer station operated by Waste Management, were able to use the site for free this year.

Monday, council reviewed the fee schedule for 2022, and Councillor Ross O’Hara noted the town wanted to now charge people $30 a year for the service. That didn’t sit well with him and asked for the fee to be lowered to $25 for a one year pass.

Councillor Grant Purdy agreed.

“We don’t want to discourage people from using it,” he told fellow councillors.
Town staff says this year there were about 370 free passes handed out. The previous year, 250 residents paid the $20 fee.

“When it was free, the numbers were up. But, you know, then when we charge they were down lower. So we want to make sure that we don’t discourage people.,” says Purdy.

“We still have to have some sort of revenue, but we also don’t want to discourage people from using it by too high of a price.”

Council agreed with the idea. The fee schedule won’t be finally passed until budget. Council begins that discussion Friday at 9 am virtually.