TREVISO – «I honestly do not accept that mayors should be given responsibility for increasing waste disposal tariffs. The mayors were asked to vote on a difficult budget and to take note of the accounts, and therefore to make a sacrifice. We voted for what they brought us.” Mario Conte, mayor of Treviso, did not at all like the justification given by the leaders of Priula and Contarina in the face of the rising tide of protests over the very high bills that are arriving for families and commercial activities in recent days. Increases vary from 20 to 50%: a bloodletting. And the defense was: «These are tariffs approved by the assembly of mayors». Conte jumped on the chair and even Stefano Marcon, mayor of Castelfranco and president of the Province, had something to say: “We voted for what they proposed to us, we didn’t ask to increase it”, he replied. In short: troubled waters on the separate waste collection front.
Mario Conte’s anger
Conte is the angriest: «What need was there to shift the responsibility onto the mayors? It would have been better to explain to people that costs have increased, everyone has noticed. We had to vote on a budget penalized by jumps in energy prices, which even tripled. There was no need to make excuses. Now I will act as spokesperson for the assembly and, at the next meeting, I will ask for cost reduction as a mandatory objective. Otherwise I won’t vote on the budget.” The insult for the citizens, however, remains: the most recyclable province in Italy, the one where waste separation works best, ultimately finds itself having to deal with high bills: «This trend must be reversed, citizens who waste separation must be rewarded , not penalized. And this will be the objective we will give to Priula.”
The analysis
Marcon, for his part, observes: «It is necessary to make assessments on the margins, the budget of Contarina and Priula must be equal. However, we know that supporting quality services like ours and investments is particularly costly but a solution must be found. Having said this, it is clear that bills have increased, but the quality/price ratio in terms of waste disposal in our province is still better than in the rest of Italy. And the increases are everywhere. Unfortunately, the real problem is another: the only thing that isn’t increasing are pensions and salaries, the purchasing power of families is increasingly reduced.” Marcon would have a solution, even if it is hardly practicable: «Contarina belongs to the municipalities – he observes – and if the municipalities had economic resources they could contribute to the balance sheet of the subsidiary to contain the costs of services, just as they could do for Mom for example. But we all know how the coffers of local authorities are in general.” Francesco Soligo, mayor of Villorba, tries to save what can be saved but admits that the problem exists and must be addressed: «We have received reports regarding the increases – he admits – we will try to do everything possible to ensure that the tariffs remain as low as possible for our citizens”. And Soligo also admits that the explosion in the cost of energy has had a major impact: «The increase in tariffs is due to the general increase in costs, which Contarina also had to face. It was decided to increase tariffs on productive and commercial activities, so as not to increase costs for families. It should be remembered that we have one of the best waste collection and recycling systems in Italy, with rates that are historically among the lowest in terms of cost per capita. A punctual and efficient collection service, a true excellence of our territory.”
The proposal
Luigi Calesso, spokesperson for the Civic Coalition, however, recalls that the increase approved by Priula last May was 8%, but in the bill the cost borne by users is significantly higher: “and the increase approved is of 8% Why are there users who find their bill increased by 20% or even 50%? – he asks – is it possible to think of a mechanism for lowering the tariffs for those who reduce the quantity of dry waste produced, obviously compensating this decrease with an increase, which would be minimal, for all the other users who, on the contrary, maintain or increase the fraction of non-recyclable waste? A final consideration deserves the positions of the city administrators who, when Manildo was at the helm of the Municipality and Contarina was chaired by Zanata, promised “wrecks” against the exorbitant tariffs for waste removal. Now the center-right has governed the city for years , the basin consortium and Contarina but the dynamics of the tariffs, rightly, continues its course: at least this time they save us the hassle on the bills that must be lowered because the ones who lower them should be those of the center-right who have all the levers of the candies.
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TREVISO – «I honestly do not accept that mayors should be given responsibility for increasing waste disposal tariffs. The mayors were asked to vote…
