Posted on 12/01/2008 5:57:00 AM PST by mlocher
Between your wastebasket and the landfill stands a $50 million-a-year operation that Columbus officials say is getting increasingly difficult to pay for.
Once again, they're thinking about charging city residents for garbage pickup, an idea that has come and gone through decades of economic cycles. This time, though, the likelihood has risen as the gap has grown between what Columbus collects in taxes and fees and what it must spend to maintain city services.
"It has to be considered," said City Auditor Hugh J. Dorrian, who's on an economic advisory panel that will decide by March whether to recommend a new monthly trash fee to Mayor Michael B. Coleman and the City Council.
Coleman hasn't ruled out the idea, even though he said during his first run for mayor in 1999: "I will never charge to pick up garbage in this city."
Two weeks ago, he proposed a 2009 budget that would freeze Police and Fire Division hiring, lay off 130 civilian workers and shut down a dozen recreation centers.
"We cannot go on at this pace in the future unless more revenue is generated," he said.
Since Columbus' last debate over trash fees in 2006 -- one of four times that the issue has come up in the past decade -- more U.S. cities have adopted them.
Toledo began charging residents $5.50 a month (now $7) in 2007. Cincinnati's city manager proposed a $17.30 fee last month, but Mayor Mark Mallory removed the plan from his budget proposal. Akron and most Columbus suburbs charge, as well.
"Many, many, many, many cities charge," said Mark Kelsey, Columbus' public-service director. "It would be fair to say we're in the exception category."
(Excerpt) Read more at dispatchpolitics.com ...
Well, "free" isn't free?......We've been paying for it for decades...............
Likewise. Even a small government type like me sees the sense in a garbage-pickup fee.
Our garbage is handled by a civilian company, Waste Management, but the bill is bundled in with the County water & sewer bill, so if you don’t pay you don’t get any water......
I thought everyone paid for trash pick up. Pennsylvania has been charging for years.
The only free lunch is in a mouse trap.
The people in Columbus pay an income tax of 2% for city services. Unfortunately, the mayor chooses to cut basic services instead of pet projects from the budget.
When I was growing up in a more rural area we always paid for trash collection. The beauty of that time was that I was the one who could choose who to hire and who to fire. Now, I pay for trash collection via property taxes and my town also toys with the idea of a trash fee. Of course they won’t ever allow me the freedom to choose my own trash collection company.
Why would you want someone to bill you twice for the same service? If they are going to charge for trash then they need to lower the property taxes.
Exactly my situation in Oklahoma and Kentucky. The cost for the water I use is somewhere around $23. The garbage pick up and sewage treatment costs get the bill total to $90.
We could quibble about whether or not we're being double-billed, but I have another idea: A fully-itemized bill from the local govt that corresponds exactly with the claimed tax/fee liability. In my fantasy world, that would bring wasteful spending to a quick end.
I too would love to see an itemized bill. From time to time I will ask our city councilors during the public address portion about certain items in writing. They are not very forthcoming.
I'm rural also. We had a small trash company pick up our trash on a weekly basis - you paid a $60 deposit down on a special trash barrel that could be grabbed by the machinery on a one-man garbage truck - the driver never left his seat.
Well, the company quit the business and gave us our $60 back. In true American style, some guy bought a couple of dumpsters, set them up on a small patch of land and charges us from $1-$6.50 to dump the stuff there. You have to drive the mile to get there but it ends up being cheaper than the first outfit. I'm lucky in that we can have a burn barrel here, so the paper trash is nil. Had I been in a city, they just would have jacked the rates up.
A burn barrel? I haven’t seen one of those in years. I’m sure many places outlawed open trash burning long ago - even if it is restricted to paper. These days I have to call my burn barrel a fireplace. ;-)
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