With a unanimous vote the Essex County Council has denied the Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority's 2017 budget.
The proposal calls for a 0% increase in both 2017 and 2018...a move LaSalle Mayor, Ken Antaya, calls "reckless" and "irresponsible".
Antaya says the Authority's financial forecast shows holding the line for the next to two years will result in a 9.87% increase for 2019.
Authority administration had recommended a 4.11% increase, but during budget deliberations all city representatives voted in favour of zero while all county reps voted against it.
This year the city holds the majority vote which alternates year to year.
Antaya says having a 0% increase would be short sighted.
"We want to attend to today's problems today and not shift them to tomorrow. So I think we take a little different approach to it and we're going to continue on that vein. It's going to be something that that's the company line. As far as we're concerned we're going to pay for today's problems today."
He says sweeping today's problems under the mat isn't the answer.
"We want to make sure that my kids aren't paying for it and your kids aren't paying for it. It doesn't go away. When you take a look at a landfill it's like a piece of infrastructure. You have to care for it, nurture it, preserve it and maintain it and you want it to last as long as possible so that when you finally lose it you're prepared to replace it."
The Solid Waste Authority is currently sitting on a $13-million surplus which would disappear within five years without a budget increase.
An ad hoc committee will now be formed, consisting of both city and county reps, with a goal of drafting a new 2017 budget for the Authority.