The City of Saskatoon is hoping the province will cover the bill on a recycling program that could cost taxpayers $635,000 a year.

The city released a proposal Thursday afternoon to introduce a Saskatoon-wide recycling program for condos, townhouses and apartments.

Multi-unit dwellings would pay $2.50 per unit per month for recycling under the new plan, or about $2.40 less than the $4.89 per month paid by single-family dwellings.

“We heard loud and clear from our stakeholders that we needed to keep the cost as low as possible, and we managed to determine a funding structure that would allow us to do just that,” said Jeff Jorgenson, Saskatoon’s transportation and utilities manager.

The city made an agreement with Cosmo Industries last summer that if Saskatoon were to introduce a multi-unit recycling program, Cosmo would be guaranteed the contract.

Cosmo provides work for people with intellectual disabilities.

The non-profit organization has requested the city pay $3.83 for recycling at each multi-unit dwelling, which is less than the $2.50 the city would collect from multi-unit dwellings.

The difference between what the city would pay and what it would collect means taxpayers would need to subsidize $635,000 a year, unless Saskatoon receives funding from an anticipated provincial recycling program.

The province’s Multi-Material Recycling Program is expected to launch this year. The city hopes it brings in $1.5 million to cover the potential multi-unit recycling contract as well as new recycling programs.

Jorgenson said a few condos, townhouses and apartments in the city currently offer recycling, but under private contracts. Those units pay much less per month than single-unit dwellings and the city felt the $2.50 was a good middle ground between what some multi-unit dwellings are now paying for recycling and what Cosmo is requesting.

“What we've chosen to present is a number that's balanced based on what people are paying now with what we think people would pay if we were to tender it, with what some other municipalities are paying,” Jorgenson said. “It’s a number we think is just reasonably balanced.”

City councillor Eric Olauson said the proposal is about more than dollars and cents.

“There’s a huge benefit to having Cosmo in our community. They provide jobs to people who might not otherwise have them and they’ve partnered with us for 30 years,” Olauson said.

Cosmo Industries echoed Olauson’s statement.

“We have 425 adults with intellectual disabilities that all benefit from the revenue that comes with recycling, but they also benefit from the fact that [recycling] is the contribution they make to their neighbours,” said Ken Gryschuk, Cosmo’s manager of business development.

If the city’s executive committee accepts the proposal, it will be presented to city council March 3.

The program could be implemented as early as October.