WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2008
7:45 AM

The city council solid waste committee met last night for about an hour and fifteen minutes. I presented the committee with the cost of operation of the trash system for the city. I broke down the cost of each service. Those include the commercial, the residential, and the operation of the knuckleboom truck.

The city council in July voted to cut the service provided by the knuckleboom truck and the containers placed at the city shop. The council members said that they had received a number of comments from the residents and at the August meeting the council voted to start back the service. They stated in the meeting that they wanted to pay for the service with general tax funds that have not been budgeted for other operations of the city.

The sanitation department has resumed the service, and there is a lot of trash being placed on the street.

I presented the committee with the figures for the first 6 months of 2008 to operate the garbage system. Based on those figures we will spend about $112,000.00 more than we receive from the fees that the city receives from the commercial and residential customers.

I also presented the committee with a proposed budget for 2009. I took the cost from the first six months of 2008 and doubled them. I then added a 3% raise for the employees. I also added the cost of a new knuckleboom truck. I added the truck, because over the last several years we have been trading trucks in the sanitation department every four years. Using that as a guide, next year is the time to replace the knuckleboom truck.

My observations from the meeting last night is that the committee wants to continue the same service in the sanitation department that we have been providing for the past several years. The problem is that they cannot decide how to pay for the continuation of the service. Based on the 2009 budget that I presented, the residential rates would have to be increased by 33% to break even. The commercial rates would have to be increased 6.9% for that service to continue at the same level. The committee seemed to indicate that they did not want to purchase a new truck. If they chose to implement the same services that are now provided with out a new knuckleboom truck the rates for residential will have to be increased about 28 or 29 percent. The 33 and 28 or 29 percent rate increase are assuming that the cost remain the same as they were during the first 6 months of 2008. I doubt that they will remain the same.

The committee discussed the possibility of going to a pay as you use service for the knucleboom truck. There are a number of residents who never use the service and there are a large number that only use it once or twice a year. If the service was operated on a pay for use, the residential rates would not have to be increased. The committee said that they would continue to work on that option for next year.

I plan to meet next week with the rest of the city council members before the city council meeting. I plan to present the same information to them that I presented last night to the solid waste committee.

I told them that I need to know what their decision is soon, because I need to start preparing the 2009 city budget. I told them that I would be happy with any decision that they agree on, but I need to know that now so that I can plan for next year.

I plan to have a discussion at the September meeting of the council to hopefully reach a final decision.