Proposal would add $9 fee for garbage pickup

If a proposal put forward by Shelbyville City Manager Ed Craig goes forward, the city could save as much as $700,000 a year -- but city residents would see an additional $9 tacked onto their monthly electric bills.

"The question is -- where do we get new revenue?" Craig asked the city council at the budget meeting Thursday night. He went on to say that one thing Shelbyville does not do that "almost everybody else does" is charge for garbage collection.

The garbage collection fee would be used to pay for a new collection system, one using a style of truck that council members referred to as "one-armed bandits" and only require one person to operate. That would eliminate four jobs, said Craig, at a savings of $150,000, but those people would not be terminated.

"We will absorb them in that department by attrition," he said. "Right now, the street department is three people short."

Over a period of time, he added, the workers would be taken into other departments as jobs became available due to people retiring, quitting or being terminated.

How it works

According to the proposal, the city of Shelbyville currently uses two rear-loader trash collection trucks operated by a three-man team to pick up solid waste from approximately 6,800 residential customers. Apartments and trailer parks are provided with three dumpsters, serviced weekly; more than 200 businesses that use no more than the four 34-gallon trash containers also have their waste picked up weekly.

The city isn't charging any of these customers for the service, and the proposed 2010 sanitation budget is $774,199, with $1,500 in revenue and $775,699 in expenses.

Under the proposed plan, the city would provide residences with specially-designed, 96-gallon trash receptacles.

"The trash containers are provided by and are the property of the city," the proposal stated. "They remain with the house when it is sold. Replacement or additional containers can be purchased by the customer."

Residents in trailer parks and apartments would have their own containers -- and their own fees on their power bills.

The automated system would also save money for the city in another area, Craig said.

"The highest rate of workers' compensation is sanitation," he said. "So we'll reduce that as well."

The new trucks would be able to serve 50 percent more households per day, he said, and the containers would give the city a neater appearance. The containers are wheeled, and easy to maneuver.

"There's always the 'little old lady' question," said Craig. "Can the little old lady get the can to the road? Yes. If not, we'll see that it gets there."

Price tag

Implementing the program won't be cheap. Craig said the cost of two trucks and approximately 8,000 containers would cost about $1 million, with the trucks costing $250,000 each and the containers $60 each. The city would have to borrow the funds, but Craig told the council that with an estimated $63,000 monthly revenue from the fee, balanced against the TML loan payments, depreciation, and operating expenses, the net cost to the city for garbage collection would be $5,928 a month, or $71,133 a year -- compared to the $774,109 that has been budgeted for 2010.

"A $9 fee would cover virtually all of our sanitation costs," said Craig.

Councilman Al Stephenson asked the other council members if they would be interested in earmarking the saved revenue for the intent of purchasing industrial property and most indicated they would.

"I don't mind paying $9 extra a month if it means we can get some industrial property," he said. "I believe this is cheaper than more taxes."

Councilwoman Kay Rose agreed.

"In the long run, it's going to bring us more jobs," she said.

MTAS report

Craig gave the council members copies of an MTAS report on the issue, as well as a fee comparison with other cities that have already implemented the program. Except for Tullahoma, which does not charge a garbage fee, the fees in other cities range from $9.20 (Pulaski) to $13.43 (Manchester).

Craig said he anticipates questions from the public about the issue, "but there are answers to all of them."

For instance, he said, anyone on a low-income-based tax relief program would not be required to pay the additional fee.

Craig said the automated system could be in place by January and that one company they are considering, Stringfellow, produces excellent educational material about the system and works with residents to get them used to the concept.