Recycling, trails, property taxes and the city’s lack of reporting on consultation results were on the list of issues that came forward Monday night when city council hosted its public input session into its proposed $69-million operating budget.

The input session, part of the annual budget process, is held prior to second and third readings of the budget.

This year’s operating budget proposes a 1.7 per cent increase to property taxes and 6.3 per cent boost to water and sewer bills while garbage collection costs would remain the same.

There are, however, plans to implement a curbside collection program for recyclables, though the exact cost to users has not been determined and is not part of the 2015 budget documents.

Joy Snyder, the Raven Recycling Society’s executive director, was the first to address council during last night’s input session, speaking on behalf of both recycling firms in the city.

She noted P&M Recycling head Pat McInroy couldn’t make it to the council meeting as the Ray Street business is dealing with rising volumes of recyclables coming in.

While Raven is continuing with a number of recycling efforts like taking refundables and continuing recycling services to local businesses, it closed its depot for non-refundables last Oct. 15. It argued the diversion credits offered through the city and territory don’t cover the cost of shipping the material Outside.

That’s meant P&M is processing much of the non-refundable material that would have normally gone to Raven.

Last night, Snyder said she and McInroy met and wanted to bring forward three major issues with the operating budget.

It’s clear, she said, significant changes have to be made to the diversion credit system, which is designed to compensate recyclers for processing recyclable material that would otherwise end up in the landfill.

While the credit provides a maximum of $75 per tonne processed, she noted that with the cap of $150,000, the credit is expected to work out to just $55 per tonne this year as the two recyclers processed approximately $60,000 over the cap.

Both also came in over the maximum last year as well, she pointed out, suggesting the cap needs to be doubled.

The $75 per tonne also doesn’t cover the costs to the processors, Snyder said.

She added a payment schedule throughout the year is needed rather than the current one payment for the previous year which comes through in February of the following year.

Even if the city moves to the planned curbside collection program of recyclables, Snyder noted, there would likely be areas where the service isn’t provided (similar to garbage pickup), such as country residential neighbourhoods and/or multifamily units.

“We believe diversion credits will be required even with the blue box system,” she said, noting the credits are in place to cover recyclables that don’t fall under other systems.

“We know that Whitehorse residents want to recycle,” Snyder said. She then requested a meeting soon to discuss the diversion credits and potential city blue box program.

She also noted work on the issue with the Yukon government has been proceeding, and she hopes the city will work on the matter as well.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mayor Dan Curtis acknowledged recycling in the territory is “a big challenge” affecting all municipalities.

He noted his hope the city could work with the territory in a collaborative way to deal with recycling, but added the city will also work on its own initiatives to manage it locally.

Meanwhile, Athletics Yukon president David Eikelboom called on the city to include more winter trail maintenance in the operating budget.

Currently, the city is set to keep a section of the Millennium Trail in the downtown clear from Rotary Peace Park to Shipyards Park through the colder months.

Eikelboom, however, argued that maintaining more of the trail which runs along the Yukon River would have positive impacts on the entire community.

Eikelboom noted his surprise in research the group did on trail use last year.

Going out to the community, he said he had anticipated numerous runners to speak up on their use of the Millennium Trail. He soon learned the trail is heavily used by commuters as well as families and individuals looking to get outside for a stroll. A number of businesses and service organizations also cited use of the trail by staff.

There are many physical and mental health benefits for individuals, he pointed out, also noting that a cleared trail through the winter could mean fewer people driving to work.

Many the group heard from commented that they’d continue using it through the winter if it was cleared.

Curtis was quick to tell reporters there’s a cost attached to maintaining trails that must be balanced with many other city issues.

Finally, Philip Fitzgerald, past chair of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, presented numerous concerns from the chamber.

He first took issue with the city’s earlier consultation process held prior to drafting the 2015 budget. He noted the city has not provided any aggregate data on what residents brought forward during that consultation process.

Later in the meeting, city manager Christine Smith told council administration would work on getting consultation results out with a “higher profile” to the public.

Fitzgerald also took issue with continued tax increases over the years.

If the latest one goes ahead as planned, he noted, this will be the 12th consecutive year that property taxes have risen while federal and territorial taxes haven’t seen any such hikes.

Fitzgerald stressed he wasn’t questioning the care the city took in coming to the 1.7 per cent increase. However, he suggested there needs to be a comprehensive review of what services the city provides and what could be provided by a third party to lower costs.

Coun. Jocelyn Curteanu was quick to note the tax hike is in line with increases in the consumer price index, a pointed echoed by Curtis after the meeting.

Curtis also cited the many services and projects the city already tenders.

Just last night, for instance, the city awarded a five-year contract each for gatehouse operations and transfer station operations at the landfill (see story, p.3).

Those are just two of many services the city goes to tender on, he said.

A report on the input session will come forward to council next week, with members scheduled to vote on second and third readings at their Jan. 26 meeting.

The city’s $30-million 2015 capital budget was adopted in December.

Councillors Mike Gladish and Kirk Cameron were absent from Monday’s meeting.