Like all the Municipalities, the council had to position itself on the increases in the cost of removing rubbish, imposed by Idélux on the Municipalities which have no other choice but to pass it on to the citizens. “Even though it is a substantial increase, comments Alderman Daniel Guebels, Mussonnais benefit from one of the cheapest rates in the province.” For a single person, the annual fee increases from €110 to €135. From 155 to 200 for 2 people, 185 to 240 for 3 people, from 195 to 255 for 4 people and 275 for more than 4. The council approved these new rates for 2025, despite three votes against and one abstention.
Fabian Collard and Idélux questioned
Before this vote, the council had listened religiously to a presentation, unanimously recognized as brilliant, by the general director of Idélux, Fabian Collard. Nothing new compared to previous presentations in other municipalities. The director explained once again the decisions which led to this brutal increase which includes the indexations which have not been passed on to citizens since 2018.
A solid question-and-answer session followed with courteous but critical interventions, mainly from Geoffrey Schadeck and Jean-Jacques Boreux.
“You have been aware since 2018 that the results of the waste sector were less and less good. How come we were never alerted to this problem“, asks Jean-Jacques Boreux. “During each annual general meeting, the accounts are published and brought to the attention of the municipalities”, retorts Mr. Collard.
“Okay, but your role should have been to honk to warn of the emergency.”
“In 2018 and the following years, no one could have predicted that Covid, wars and the soaring cost of energy would complicate the situation to this extent,” replies the director of Idélux.
Lutgen doesn’t stop him from sleeping
Another stumbling block often raised is the lower cost paid by the Bastognards, the Virtonnais and the Libramontois who have not completely relinquished the removal in favor of Idélux. “There cannot be comparisons between real costs for high-density urban areas and rural areas, retorts the director. I have taken note that the mayor of Bastogne wants an independent audit on the management of Idélux. I assure you it doesn’t stop me from sleeping.”
The recipe aspect is also debated
Before Fabian Collart left the council, the most serious charge came from Geoffrey Schadeck who criticized the presentation of Idélux for only looking at the “expenses” aspect. “You justify the increase by an additional cost of expenses, but there is not a word about the revenues from this sector of waste removal which were greater than forecasts and which could have attenuated the increaseargues the advisor. I also notice that in your 2023-2025 strategic plan, your forecasts announce substantial benefits that you do not address.”
Fabian Collard explained that the revenue made it possible to smooth out the reserves planned for the end of operation of the Habay and Tenneville landfill sites. “As for the strategic plan, he specifies, you are referring to forecasts which are not results and which have been disrupted by crises. If you look at your municipality’s budget, you will see that it has increased by 30% over the last ten years. It’s the same thing for intercommunal companies.”
The last subject discussed concerned the future evolution of prices. “From 2026, we will return to the annual indexation system, which will generate systematic increases, but which will avoid massive increasesconfirms Mr. Collard. We will also have to take into account the increasing number of environmental standards which, each time, increase the real cost, but also the decisions of the Region which plan to reduce the amount of subsidies on which we were counting. All this will have consequences on the citizen’s wallet.”
In order to mitigate these increases, two avenues are on the table: the harmonization of collection frequencies and a takeover by the intercommunal of the part of collections and recycling currently granted to subcontractors with a quasi-monopoly. and can afford to charge very high prices. Geoffrey Schadeck refused to approve the new tariffs: “A simple calculation shows that on average 250,000 residents of the province will pay an increase of €20. This means that Idélux will have an additional annual revenue of €5 million. The presentation given to us lacks transparency on the aspect of revenue allocation.”
