Yes, they are related, as City Manager Ron Carlee wants to eliminate the $47 per household garbage fee while raising property taxes, which brings in more money for the city while reducing total taxes on many but not all homeowners. But is Carlee’s proposal a trap? As the UPoR reports:
Carlee said the city is still studying a new garbage fee system known as “Pay as You Throw” that’s designed to reduce the amount of trash going into the county landfill.
Council member Kenny Smith said he’s concerned that the garbage fee could be eliminated this year but then be added back onto resident’s bills under a Pay as You Throw system.
Smith’s concern is very well placed. Pay as You Throw involves, as the name implies, charging people based upon how much garbage they they dispose of. Carlee’s proposed budget seems to preclude such an option — except that Carlee says the city is still studying the idea. Easy to see a garbage fee coming back as part of a future move to a Pay as You Throw system, perhaps as part of a trade-off with other tax changes so that not all homeowners would end up paying more…
