Fort Erie council votes in favour of rodent control rebate program

Residents who are dealing with rat problems will soon get a little financial help from the Town.

Councillors voted in favour of a recommendation to implement a rodent control rebate program on Monday, which would offer up to $200 to residents who require rodent pest control services for the exterior of their property. The rebate provides 50-50 cost sharing between the municipality and the resident.

“Anything we can do that’s a small amount that has a big impact on residents affected, it goes a long way,” said Councillor Nick Dubanow, who originally requested staff look at a possible program.

Staff also looked at implementing a municipal sanitary sewer baiting program, though recommended waiting.

“We have to do the rebate program first to clean up the area,” said Jim McCaffery, supervisor of municipal law enforcement.

Neither program would be a drastic drain on municipal dollars, according to McCaffery. The resident rebate program sets aside $2,000, while McCaffery said a baiting program would be around $5,000.

While McCaffrey suggested seeing the results of the resident rebate program before committing dollars to a municipal baiting program, councillors argued the need to be agile in the future. Councillor Ann-Marie Noyes pointed to the demolition of the old Bertie Public School, and how it created an issue with rats in the neighbourhood.

“I think if we had done some sewer baiting then we wouldn’t have had the problems residents had with the rats,” she suggested.

Given the cost estimates, Mayor Wayne Redekop said the Town could find the money somewhere to implement a sewer baiting program should a project similar to the Bertie School demolition arise in the near future.

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