Refuse service fees will increase $1.50 per month
Managing editor
In light of the need to increase rates for the city refuse service, Marion City Council decided Monday not to approve $10 credits on city utility bills to those residents who display Christmas lights.
When the time came for the council to discuss the annual light credit, councilmen Stacey Collett and Gene Winkler said they weren’t in favor of giving residents $10 credits for displaying lights and then turning around to vote for an $18-per-year increase.
In the past, residents signed up at the city office for a $10 credit on their utility bills for displaying Christmas lights. City officials doubted if any residential displays used an additional $10 in electricity.
When it came time to vote, Mayor Mary Olson was the only one in favor of the $10 credit.
Councilman Bill Holdeman asked City Clerk Angela Lange if there were many customers who were late in paying their utility bills. Lange responded there were some but the most significant increase has been in the number of customers who use a credit card to pay their bills.
Trash service costs increase
All Marion refuse service customers will be charged an additional $1.50 per month beginning in the January billing cycle. The council approved the increase of $18 per customer per year, 3 to 2, with Holdeman and Steven Smith opposed.
The increase has been anticipated for several years as the refuse department has shown less revenue.
“The refuse department is about break even,” Administrator David Mayfield said. “The cost of fuel has increased some. The cost of trash bags has increased a lot.”
All city refuse customers are entitled to one free roll of 50 bags per year.
Money needs to be set aside to purchase a new truck in several years.
“Has there been a decrease in the amount of refuse since the county implemented recycling?” Olson asked.
“Recycling doesn’t have anything to with cost of our service,” Mayfield said.
The city is not charged for dumping refuse at Marion County Transfer Station since property owners already pay an annual fee through property taxes for the transfer station.
Reducing trash pickup to one time per week will not make any difference either, Street Superintendent Marty Fredrickson said.
“We still would run the truck every day,” he said. “It would take longer to run the route with once a week pickup because there would be twice as much to pick up.
“The volume is irrelevant,” Fredrickson said, “because we still have to drive the same route.”
Currently, the city refuse truck dumps twice a day at the transfer station.
Holdeman asked if it would be any cheaper to have an independent company pick up and dispose of residents’ household waste. Bids were solicited a number of years ago when the transfer station first opened, Mayfield said, but the city found it was more expensive for the private companies to collect.