Plan to levy £100 service charge set to divide city council

A major political row is set to erupt in Waterford over a plan to reintroduce domestic service charges.

A proposal to charge householders £100 a year for refuse collection services is included in the draft estimate of expenses for 2000 which has been circulated to Waterford city councillors.

Workers' Party councillors have already come out against the plan, which was not due to be made public until the end of the month, and say they will campaign against it.

Service charges were abolished in the city in the early 1990s.

Councillors have been briefed by the city manager, Mr Eddie Breen, that a £2 a week collection charge could raise up to £1.4 million annually for Waterford Corporation. The money would be used to part-fund a new landfill site currently being sought by the corporation and Waterford County Council.

Mr Breen declined to comment on the proposal yesterday, as the draft estimates have yet to be presented to a full city council meeting and are not considered to be in the public domain.

However, a copy of them, seen by The Irish Times, shows that Waterford Corporation hopes to raise £825,000 in the first year of the scheme's operation. While this is considerably less than the maximum potential earning, it is understood that allowance is being made for "hardship cases" and a certain degree of non-compliance.

The proposal, if adopted, will result in each of the city's 14,000 households being given a free "wheelie bin" by the corporation, which would then levy the £2 charge for each collection.

The corporation estimates that the scheme will cost £686,000 to introduce in the first year.

Mr Breen, it is also understood, has given a commitment that the scheme will not be privatised and that no corporation jobs are at stake.

However Workers' Party councillor Mr Davy Walsh said the introduction of any such scheme would open the door to further service charges in the future.

"Every time you buy something you pay tax on it. Every time you earn money you pay tax on it, and this is a further form of taxation which we have a mandate from the electorate to oppose," he said.

Mr Walsh, whose party holds three of the council's 15 seats, claimed that "every ploy" had been used in the past to force councillors to support service charges and said he expected similar tactics on this occasion.

"We've been told at different times that workers would have to be let go or that we wouldn't be able to provide services. We've faced threats from government ministers that the council would be abolished, but we have always taken the view that this is double taxation."

Other councillors contacted yesterday declined to discuss the issue, but conceded that it was likely to split the council.

If the proposal is implemented, it will be the first time that Waterford residents will have been charged directly for refuse collection.

Although commonly referred to as "water rates", the previous charge was an across-the-board levy for all services.

The proposal will be discussed by the council at its estimates meeting on Monday, November 29th.