| 2theadvocate.com (The Advocate
and WBRZ News 2 Louisiana)
Baton Rouge, LA
8/16/2004
Get all the facts on garbage rate
One of the essential services of any city is garbage pickup,
and that involves trucks, and they run on gasoline. That means
as gasoline prices rise, the costs of picking up the garbage
rise as well.
It is only common sense to question whether
curbside garbage pickup should be cut from twice a week to
once a week.
A Virginia consultant hired to help the city-parish
rebid its garbage contract suggested that the Metro Council
consider the possibility. Harvey Gershman of Gershman, Brickner
& Bratton Inc. said Wednesday the current fee of $8.40
per month for each household is extremely low for twice-a-week
service and weekly recycling pickups.
And Gershman noted the East Baton Rouge Parish
garbage program is expected to run a $3.8 million deficit
this year that will be filled by property taxes and other
city-parish subsidies.
Gershman also is suggesting that the city-parish
look at reducing recycling pickup from the current once-a-week
service to once every other week.
While we don't know how the bids will come
back, we believe the council ought to at least explore the
possibilities of cutting costs. Browning-Ferris Industries
has provided garbage service to East Baton Rouge since 1996,
but the city-parish has received numerous complaints from
residents since August 2003 about the level of service and
has fined the company.
Gershman said bids will be solicited on several
garbage pickup scenarios, including the current twice-a-week
schedule, as well as reduced schedules. Metro Council members
can compare prices and levels of service when they make a
decision on Nov. 23.
A decision to cut back on service would be
controversial, no doubt about it.
As Councilman Ulysses "Bones" Addison
told Gershman at Wednesday's meeting, either cutting services
or raising fees will engender a lot of complaints.
However, we believe that Fred Raiford, the
city-parish director of Public Works, is right to bid the
contract with several scenarios.
Garbage pickup is a serious cost to the elderly
and others on fixed incomes, and holding down that fee would
be of obvious help to those households. It is a debatable
question, in fact, whether the city-parish general fund ought
to be subsidizing the costs of garbage pick-up.
"While everybody has their own idea about
what type of service should be made available, it is still
our job to provide the information to this council about the
services being provided by other cities," Raiford said.
That's the appropriate way to approach this
decision.
Monday, August 16, 2004
>>
See article on 2theadvocate.com
|
