Vaughan scraps controversial super mailbox litter pilot project

Vaughan Citizen
January 21, 2014
By Adam Martin-Robbins

You’re facing a 2.5 per cent property tax hike from the city this year.

That works out to about $32 for the average homeowner, with a house valued at $551,000.

“I think that is absolutely excellent,” Maple/Kleinburg Councillor Marilyn Iafrate, chairperson of Vaughan’s finance and administration committee, said at last week’s budget meeting after councillors directed staff to cap the increase at 2.5 per cent.

“I got my house insurance bill and I can tell you it’s far more than the portion I’m paying to the City of Vaughan for all the services the city provides me.”

Factoring in the Region of York levy, the provincial education portion and the $60 hospital levy brings the average homeowner’s total tax bill to about $4,663, up $66 from $4,597 last year.

Exactly how the city will be spending your tax dollars in 2014 still has to be worked out by senior city staff, with the final budget slated to be approved by council at a special meeting in early February.

One controversial item that has been chopped from the budget is the $147,000 pilot project to clean up litter around so-called “super mailboxes”.

City staff had proposed placing specially designed recycling bins at 150 super mailboxes where litter, primarily from junk mail, is a source of ongoing complaints.

But many residents, and a majority of councillors, panned the proposed pilot project as an expensive solution to the “bad behaviour” of a small number of people.

Council voted Monday to scrap the pilot project and instead earmark $26,000 for an education and enforcement campaign.

The next budget meeting is scheduled for Jan. 29 starting at 9:30 a.m. at city hall, 2141 Major Mackenzie Dr.