Concern raised over program's cost

BrantfordExpositor.ca
Sept. 14, 2016
By Vincent Ball

Emerald ash borer has become a major headache for city officials, who are trying to determine what can be done to help residents get rid of affected trees.

City councillors this week voted to ask staff to look into the possibility of program modelled on a city program that provides eligible property owners with a grant of up to $1,000 to replace lead water pipes. The resolution was brought to a council committee meeting by Ward 4 Coun. Richard Carpenter.

Only Ward 3 Coun. Greg Marin voted against the resolution, which will be considered by council on Sept. 27.

But other councillors questioned how the city will pay for the emerald ash borer program.

"I think this is commendable and I'm glad it has come forward," said Ward 2 Coun. John Utley.

"But I don't know that we can afford it. It's going to cost a lot of money that we don't have. I'll support it now but I'm concerned about afforability."

Mayor Chris Friel noted that the city's efforts to remove ash trees on city-owned property has fallen behind.

"I'm going to support this because I think this is the direction we're going to have to go in," Friel said. "But I don't think we can do it just yet.

"We're talking tens of thousands of trees and that's why we're 15 months behind in our program."

The municipality will have to determine when it will be a position to deal with the problem, said the mayor, noting that the city has received 2,000 calls about emerald ash borer since March.

He said that all levels of government have known about the problem for years. But now communities are recognizing that they will need assistance to cover the costs of battling the problem.

Emerald ash borer is a wood-boring green beetle that feeds on ash trees. It has killed millions of ash trees in Ontario and in the United States.

Martin said he thinks the the emerald ash borer program would be too expensive.

In January 2015, city councillors voted to spend $443,000 from the city's casino legacy fund to cut down ash trees on muncipal property. At the time, there were about 2,500 such ash trees remaining. It costs between $250 to $300 to cut down an ash tree.