MEDICINE HAT, AB — The City of Medicine Hat is pleading with residents to stop illegally dumping items in random areas of the city.
The city says not only is it unsanitary, it comes with a hefty price tag for tax payers.
Every year, illegal dumping costs the Parks and Recreation department of the city roughly $100,000.
This latest spot, riddled with garbage, a couch and even a mattress, will cost nearly $5,000 to clean up.
“It’s gonna cost the taxpayer quite a bit of money to do that and it’s really unfortunate,” says Randy Taves, manager of parks for the City. “Because we’d like to spend out money on more productive things than picking up other peoples garbage.”
Located on Clay Avenue, the spot was found earlier this week, and now due to the holidays, it won’t be cleaned up for a couple of weeks.
In addition, it’s only bad for taxpayers’ wallets, it’s tough on the environment.
“It’s hard on the environment,” says Taves. “We try hard to encourage people to enjoy nature, enjoy the outdoors and beautify our city and this is so contrary to that.”
Taves adds that the dump doesn’t cost much, and if you don’t have a truck to haul your items, you can pay contractors to do it.
