Councillor Says City Missed Revenue Opportunity From Union Hospital Debris

The majority of the debris from the demolition of the former Union Hospital might be sitting in the City’s High Street yards but the golden opportunity the dumping fees the debris should have brought in is not likewise sitting in the City’s bank account a councillor says.

In response to the answer to his enquiry - how much did the City receive in dumping fees for the former Union Hospital from Silverado Demolition - Councillor Brian Swanson said it is obvious the City missed an opportunity to secure a significant amount of revenue.

“It seems clear from this enquiry that other than the asbestos and the hazardous wastes from the Union Hospital the City did not charge the Health District or the province any money for the disposal of the waste material from the hospital which I would conservatively estimate to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Councillor Swanson said.

The enquiry showed $36,384.80 was charged to dump debris from the Union Hospital’s demolition.

Councillor Swanson would ask if the $295,000 quoted for the demolition of the defunct YMCA of Moose Jaw’s Cresent Park building including dumping fees to which Parks and Recreation direct Derek Blais said it did.

“Which leaves me in this very strange position where we would not charge the provincial government or its health agency to dispose of the waste material from the landfill as a source of revenue…but yet when we demolish the YMCA we are going to charge ourselves dumping fees. I don’t know if I am the only one that sees a contradiction in that.”

Councillor Swanson said dumping fees should be charged no matter where the debris was dumped.

“But whether it was dumped at the landfill or at the City Yards we disposed of waste material. We missed a huge opportunity to pick up a bunch of money from that.”

During budget discussions the issue of what fees, if any, had been charged for the dumping of Union Hospital debris arose during discussion surrounding approval of an initiative to recycle cement and asphalt into a useable and saleable product.

SEE RELATED - FOI Shows Reason Why Union Hospital Debris Dumped At City Yard