Trash rates will go up and trash service will change under a revised contract between the city and Allied Waste Services approved by the Carthage City Council’s Public Works Committee on Tuesday.
Starting in October, families will pay $9.50 a month for trash service, up from the current $8.49 a month. Seniors will pay $7.75 a month, up from $6.91 under the current agreement.
Carthage Public Works Director Chad Wampler said the full Carthage City Council must still approve the agreement before it becomes official.
This agreement also includes a new method of trash service. Currently most residents have their trash picked up in the alleys by conventional rear-loaded trash trucks operated by an individual who gets out of the truck, walks around and loads the trash into the truck by hand.
Under the new agreement, Allied Waste Services will provide each household paying the family rate with a 95-gallon “poly-cart” and residents will load their trash into the cart and wheel them to the curb.
There the company will use trucks with hydraulic graspers to reach out, pick up the poly cart, lift it and dump it into openings in the side of the truck.
Residents over 65 years old will be eligible to receive a smaller 65-gallon poly-cart. Jennifer Fagan, government affairs manager with Allied Waste Services, told the committee if someone older than 65 wants larger cart, they would have to pay the family rate.
Both sized carts are provided by the company and are included in the monthly bill. The company will also own the carts.
The new agreement allows residents to dispose of one oversized item a week, but they must call the company in advance to schedule pickups.
If the city approves the change, the company will deliver new poly-carts, along with written instructions on how to use them and a phone number to call with questions in the month leading up to the Oct. 1 changeover.
The agreement also calls for a fixed schedule of 5-percent annual rate hikes for the five-year life of the agreement.
By Oct. 1, 2013, the rate for trash pickup will be $11.56 for families and $9.43 for seniors, both increases of 21.7 percent, according to numbers provided by City Administrator Tom Short.
Wampler said the company initially asked for annual hikes of about 5.8 percent, but agreed to this rate during negotiations.
In years past, trash rates had gone up by about 3 percent until an adjustment last year bumped the rates up by more than a dollar.
Figures provided by Short show the rate was $6.33 a month for a family in 2005 and $4.01 for a single person.
Wampler said the single person rate was replaced by a senior rate last year.
The agreement also gives Allied Waste Services the opportunity to ask the council for unscheduled rate hikes at any time and present proof of why they are needed, but it would be up to the Carthage City Council to decide whether to allow any unscheduled hikes.
Carthage Public Works Director Chad Wampler said the most common questions from the public regarding a new trash service are about the poly-carts. These 65-gallon and 95-gallon, plastic and aluminum carts on wheels will be provided by Allied Waste Services as part of the monthly service fee. The smaller carts are for older residents paying the senior rate, while the larger ones are for families. Allied Waste Services will own the carts and should a resident move from their home, the carts should stay with the home. A homeowner can request extra carts, but they will pay an extra $6 a month per cart. That rate will go up by 5 percent a year along with the other trash rates.
