City residents are looking at a garbage collection price increase of anywhere from about $1.50 to roughly $8, according to figures being weighed by Columbus City Council.
The council must still decide how many times garbage will be picked up each week, as well as whether a bin will be provided for each household.
The council voted unanimously at a June 22 special meeting to stay with Golden Triangle Waste Services, which currently holds the contract. Negotiations are ongoing about what form city garbage service will take after that contract expires Sept. 1.
The city pays GTWS $10.50 per household per month for two pickups per week, but then adds on a $7 fee to citizens’ bills to cover landfill fees, recycling and other costs.
For the new contract, pickup twice per week with a bin included has a base cost of $18.45, which means the consumer will pay about $25.45 every month, according to figures Mayor Keith Gaskin presented Thursday at a council work session. For two pickups a week without a bin, the base cost is $17.45, meaning citizens will pay about $24.45.
Without a bin, the charge is $11.95 for pickup once a week, meaning citizens will pay about $18.95. For twice a week with no bin, the cost to the city is $13.95, and the cost to the citizen is $20.95.
Finally, for two bins per household and one pickup a week, the charge would be $14.95, with a cost to the customer of $21.95.
According to the GTWS contract draft, if the city pulls out of the contract early it is on the hook for the cost of the bins. Pulling out after a year leaves the city with a balance of $668,028. The cost is pro-rated each year afterward, with a payoff date of Sept. 1, 2029.
“So we’re basically looking at going up $8 a month to get a bin,” Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene said.
“I am in favor of bins, personally, because of the tremendous litter issue we have in our community,” Gaskin said. “Part of that comes from trash bags being torn into by varmints. … Not everyone can afford to go to Lowe’s and buy a bin.”
Greene asked if the city could try one way and then change later if it didn’t work out, and Chief Financial Officer James Brigham said yes.
“There seems to be the opportunity to go either way,” Brigham said. “We could start twice a week and then go to once a week, or go the other way. They seem to be open to negotiating that.”
During the fall months GTWS will also pick up as many as eight bags of leaves that aren’t in the bins, Brigham said.
Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones told The Dispatch Thursday afternoon he still wants two pickups per week.
“Probably 90% of the people who have reached out to me want to stay with twice-a-week pickup,” Jones said. “I know the cost is going up, but everything has gone up, and it’s not us going up. We have no choice.”
Jones said he thinks going with a pickup option that includes bins is a “no-brainer.”
“You’re looking at two times a week without a bin and with a bin, and it’s ($1 difference),” Jones said. “(Bins) aren’t even the cost of it. … I think bins will help with a cleaner city.”
Gaskin said the council will likely vote on the garbage issue at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
“I want people to think it through and give us their thoughts,” Gaskin said. “We can’t avoid the price going up, but we also want to be mindful of what our citizens can afford.”
GTWS has picked up garbage in Columbus for more than 20 years, but relations with the city became strained after supply chain issues caused frequent interruptions in service. As frustrations mounted, the council voted in January to put out a request for proposals.
Last month the council tabled the proposals to ask for more options for twice-a-week pickup after Jones and Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard said they had gotten pushback from constituents on cutting back to once a week.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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