In-house garbage collection racking up operating deficits for city

The two garbage collection zones that use city staff together racked up a $1.2-million operational deficit in 2016, an external audit shows.
The downtown zone had a deficit of $589,899 and the east Ottawa zone had a deficit of $665,060 in the fourth year of the collection contracts.
The previous three years of the collection contracts resulted in a cumulative operational deficit of $340,609.
Over the first four years of the contracts, the city collection zones have run a total $1.6-million opera