Thoughts on Trash

So, starting in July, Hendersonville will have a new trash company and everyone will have new trash cans. Service will go from twice a week to once a week and there is some discussion (though no final decision) about adding recycling to the mix. For now, the only guarantee is that citizens will get less service and may also enjoy a savings in the rate they pay for garbage pickup.

Alderman Scott Sprouse and former Alderman Matt Stamper offer some thoughts on this new development:

From Sprouse via his aldermanic Facebook page --

Last night, the board voted to change Hendersonville's twice a week, back door trash service to once a week, back door service. Also, we decided to award the contract to a new service provider. I cast the lone no vote.

No options on the table included recycling. I wish at least one did.

Once a week collection is not frequent enough, especially for people who live where HOA rules prohibit them from leaving trash cans outside. We'll realize this better once summer comes, once it's 95 degrees or higher day after day, once traveling on the day we're to put the trash out means we have to wait a second week for it to be collected.

Also, I have concerns about changing the service provider with such short notice. On July 1, our trash will start being collected by a company that today has no local facility, owns no equipment here, and employs no one to actually provide the service. They have thirty-two business days to acquire that facility; purchase the equipment; hire, screen and train the people who will be driving the trucks and hauling the trash; and establish and learn new routes. We were concerned about another provider having time to ramp-up new service when this was discussed two months ago. We were concerned when we first voted three weeks ago. I don't know what changed last night to make those concerns go away.

While I disagreed with the decision, I will do what I always do. I will respect the will of the board and work to implement the decision of the majority to the best of my ability.

In addition, the reduction of service means the cost of service will be reduced. I will stand by my pledge to vote to pass that reduced cost directly back to the homeowners who pay the garbage fee.

And, from Stamper:

Someone check my math. The old garbage fee (twice a week) was $4,690,907. You have to add tipping fee which comes from the general fund of 975,000 roughly. So $5,665,907. But the fee we pay is $293 on our property tax bill (see attached) for our trash fee. If it was all charged to the residents it would have been $354. Keep that number in mind.

The new contract is $2,553,107.88. If you add the tipping fee (which won't change) you are at $3,528,107.88. Now before we rejoice at a 45.573% decrease in the variable amount of this thing (37.73% overall decrease) and before you think those savings are going to be passed on to the residents keep one important thing in mind. Your service that you are paying for is being cut in half.

So not bad financially, a significant reduction in the cost for a 50% reduction in service. This ignores whether you like or don't like only getting your trash picked up once a week. But the part I'm not excited about (besides going to once a week) is that the push from some of our leaders is not to pass all of this savings on to the residents. Simple math would say the new garbage fee should be at the absolute most $220.37, let's round up since they use whole dollars and just have everyone chip in an extra 63 cents and you are $221. Keep an eye on the first reading of the budget and see if they move it to $221 or less. They really should in my opinion. If you go a dime over $221 you are subsidizing and paying for city services enjoyed by businesses and residents and making only the residents pay for them (not to mention a person with a home value of $150,000 pays the same fee as an $800,000 home). The trash fee is inherently regressive so abusing it would devastating to those with lower economic demographics.

Now this assumes a big change moving the tipping fee from the overall general fund and putting it on the homeowners. But assuming they do that the trash fee should not exceed $221. Any argument they give you that it should be higher than that is absolutely untrue and dishonest. It's a pass through and $221 would make it a straight pass through. If they decided to continue to pay for the tipping fees from the general fund the fee should be $159.47. Were I still on the board I would urge my colleagues to meet somewhere in the middle, perhaps $200. Notice the stormwater fee. In the past year you are looking at them pushing something everyone paid for onto the backs of residents through the trash fee, they've added a $72 stormwater fee to every resident and the reappraisals mean on the property tax itself (which is outside of these two fees) some folks are going to pay double what they paid last year.

Enough is enough on our residents. It's a triple whammy and it appears no one but me is standing up and saying something about it using simple math and facts. There is no denying the accuracy of anything I've said here. In the past two days I've been called about everything but a child of God for pointing out what is happening to us as a city. I'm not being dishonest, I've laid out plainly for all to see.

Stay tuned for what's next!

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