Proposed fee hike in RM of Cornwallis faces bumpy road

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This article was published 11/01/2023 (713 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The relationship between local gravel pit owners and RM of Cornwallis council appears to be a little rocky as the municipality seeks a hefty hike to the annual fee paid to mine and haul gravel.

The revision to the rural municipality’s mining and transportation of aggregate bylaw would see the cost for an annual licence jump from $10 to $6,000 as the RM seeks to secure money to fix roads damaged by gravel-hauling trucks.

The rate for transporting gravel would also go up.

During a council meeting Tuesday evening, one gravel pit owner said he and his colleagues are willing to work with the RM on finding a way to fix roads and took exception to the reeve’s prior assertion the prior fee was so low that ratepayers were effectively subsidizing gravel operations.

“We’re here to help you, not here to rob you,” said Fred Gilbert, who owns a trucking company and a pair of gravel pits in the municipality. He was one of three gravel pit operators to make a delegation at the meeting.

Reeve Sam Hofer indicated that council doesn’t respond to questions posed during delegations but the proposed revisions are revealed in council documents, as he provided a rationale for the fee increases during a previous council meeting.

Under the existing bylaw, the annual fee for an aggregate mining and transportation licence is $10. However, during its Dec. 20 meeting, council authorized administration to work with its lawyer to create an interim licensing fee of $6,000 per licence. Such permits are valid for one year. Also, the fees for mining and transporting aggregate would almost double.

Motions to amend the bylaw passed second and third readings on Nov. 15, but the subject returned to the table for a lengthy debate during council’s regular meeting on Dec. 20, when it discussed the motion to have administration and the RM lawyer create the $6,000 fee.

During that meeting, Coun. Bob Brown, one of two councillors to vote against the motion to set the new licence fee, told his colleagues he couldn’t support it due to a lack of consultation, and because the proposal as presented at the meeting was unexpected.

“I don’t know if I can be in favour of this because I stressed that we needed to have that particular meeting with the gravel pit owners, a committee of them, and residents, and council to discuss all options,” Brown said. “This is different than what I was led to believe that was coming forth.

“Yeah, I’m kind of shocked, so, I’m kind of lost for words to tell you the truth.”

Coun. Ed Maxwell expressed surprise at the size of the increase. The RM’s interim CAO also seemed caught off guard — prior to reading it out to council, he stated that the motion had been “dumped” on him the night before.

At that same meeting and previously to the Sun, Hofer has said the current fees are so low, when the cost of maintaining the roads used to haul gravel is considered, ratepayers are effectively subsidizing gravel pit operations, even with gas tax money invested in roads. New money collected by the RM with the bylaw revisions would go into maintaining roads torn up by trucks and whatever method is used to measure the amount of gravel taken out of pits, he said.

On the process of measuring gravel removed from pits, Hofer stated at the Dec. 20 meeting that scales had previously been ruled out as a traffic problem and too costly.

Alternatively, the reeve referred to the findings of a previous CAO, who he said got a quote from a company that would survey the pits. Hofer added, however, he couldn’t share that offer — and therefore the cost of the service — publicly as the RM is still seeking quotes from other engineering companies. Although, he suggested the method of measuring the amount of gravel removed could be done by “scanning” or using LiDAR.

Even then, Hofer said, he wasn’t sure the new $6,000 licence rate would be enough to cover the cost of scanning the pits, but it would be enough to get the ball rolling and pit owners could be compensated if it was later found the cost was less.

“We don’t want to stop the gravel business,” Hofer said. “We want them to pay their fair share. They’re making thousands of dollars, but it can’t be on our dime.”

RM administration had only just found figures for the volume of gravel, he said, so there wasn’t a point in holding a meeting with gravel pit owners and the public when there was a lack of information to share. Pit owners and residents would be involved at some point, he said.

Meanwhile, he concluded, the RM needs the licensing money to address “undriveable” roads.

That set up Tuesday’s council meeting, during which Gilbert asked council for the research it put into making such a “big move.” He agreed some roads need work, but not a lot given that they’re sparsely populated.

“The money isn’t in the gravel pit,” Gilbert said.

According to his math, with 34 gravel pits in the RM, if they sold gravel at $2 per yard, they would have to sell about 100,000 yards to cover the cost, with a portion of the money going to whoever provides the scanning of pits and not the RM.

Collet Gravel owner Denis Collet called the $6,000 licence fee “highly inflated.” Using drones to survey pits would be inaccurate, LiDAR systems aren’t advanced enough, roadside scales are too costly, and pit operators already pay a substantial mining fee, he said.

He suggested any fees for the repair of roads could be based on drivers and pit owner/operators being required to show the routes they use, or by using information about weight and pit locations included in government contracts. To improve cash flow to fix roads, the RM could charge quarterly payments for large projects that require gravel, he suggested.

Alternative Group Gravel Plus operations manager Spencer Griffin asked council to back up the licence fee hike: provide proof how ratepayers are subsidizing pit operations, hold a meeting with pit owner/operators to explain how they arrived at the proposed $6,000 fee, and give an account of the fees paid in other Manitoba municipalities.

Hofer said the RM would mail responses to delegates within five days. Interim CAO James Montgomery said pit owners are invited to a meeting at the RM offices on Jan. 30.

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