City to raise trash fees

After nearly a decade, inflation has caught up with the city's sanitation department.\nDepartment officials are seriously considering increases in trash and yard waste disposal sticker fees, which have held steady since 1993. The city also plans to start charging for its semi-annual large item pickup, which will be increased in frequency under a tentative plan.\nIt's unlikely that local residents will embrace the fee hike with open arms. But the sanitation department has been operating in red for the past few years, and city officials say they have little choice.\nPublic Works Deputy Director Toni McClure said the department was $16,000 short of breaking even last year.\n"We're not at risk of bankruptcy," she said. "But when you have to spend more than you have coming in, it obviously causes you to take notice."\nMcClure said it is necessary to address the revenue shortfall now because the department's financial forecast isn't looking any better. \nFuel prices have shot up in recent years, as have wages and health insurance costs. Annexation and development have increased the volume of waste handled by the sanitation department. And the Monroe County Solid Waste District, which takes care of Bloomington's trash disposal, is increasing its charges on large items and electronic products. \nTrash stickers, which must be attached to all cans or bags of trash, now sell for $1 apiece. \nCity councilman Tim Meyer, who sits on a task force studying the problem, said the city would probably levy a 50 percent increase on the stickers. Yard waste stickers, now 25 cents apiece, will likely double in price.\n"It's a bitter pill," he said. "It's difficult for people, especially for people on fixed incomes. But we can't raise property taxes, and people have come to expect a certain level of service."\nFormer councilman Jim Sherman devised the sticker system, implemented in 1993 along with a free curbside recycling program. A 1990 state law required each county to reduce its volume of solid waste by 50 percent in 2001.\nCity sanitation workers collect recyclable items free of charge every two weeks. And although it costs the city roughly $475,000 a year, officials have no plans to start charging for the service anytime soon.\n"We have a strong commitment to recycling," McClure said. "It's an environmentally sound concept that we need to promote as a community."\nCouncilman Jason Banach, who also sits on the task force, favors paying off the department's balance out of the city's general fund. While he's opposed to a property tax increase, he said he doesn't like the use of trash stickers as an incentive to recycle considering that most Bloomington citizens are already eco-sensitive.\nBut while McClure stresses that nothing's been finalized, she said an increase in fees is the most straightforward solution.\n"Landlords and commercial groups wouldn't like paying for services they aren't receiving," she said. "This is essentially a service fee. Raising taxes would be the easiest thing to do certainly, but we want to make sure that people are paying for the services they're using."\nThe sanitation department receives about $700,000 annually from the city's general fund. It takes in about $550,000 with trash and yard waste stickers. Annual department costs total around $1.3 million.\nThe task force has no timetable for an official recommendation. But Meyer said it should present a proposed change to ordinance to the city council soon. \nMeyer said the city would also allow residents larger 40-gallon trash cans and ban oversized 80- or 90-gallon cans. The sanitation department also hopes to make the city's wood chipper available for resident use for a nominal fee to cut back on the amount of yard waste sent to compost heaps.