TimesLeader.com

Hazleton residents trash garbage-fee rates

Councilman says city leaders should take blame because there’s $1M that’s owed.

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

HAZLETON – City Council didn’t discuss Mayor Lou Barletta’s 2010 budget proposal at Thursday night’s meeting, but it did address comments from citizens who complained about a proposed garbage fee increase noted in the plan.

The budget, put together by Acting City Administrator Mary Ellen Lieb and released to the council clerk on Monday, proposes raising real estate taxes from 1.40 mills to 2.38 mills – a $98 increase for every $100,000 in assessed property value – an earned income tax hike from 1.9 percent to 2.25 percent, and increasing the annual garbage collection fee from $208 to $240.

The income tax hike is necessary for the city to meet its minimum municipal obligation to the pension fund as required by state law. And the real estate tax hike was necessary to balance the budget and meet contractual obligations, even though the proposal factors in savings from layoffs of some city employees, Lieb had said.

But residents who spoke during public comment were upset they had to pay a higher garbage fee to cover a revenue shortfall caused by property owners who they say were delinquent on their bills.

“I’m paying $416 a year for a bag of garbage (a week), and we’re paying for the irresponsible people. … I don’t mind paying my fair share, but I do mind paying for the irresponsible people,” said Mary Jane Thomas, who owns both halves of a double-block house, half of which is vacant.

Sylvia Thomas said she owns a four-family home, and two apartments had been empty for seven or eight years. She thought it unfair that she should have to pay $480 next year for apartments that generated no garbage.

Barletta said garbage collection is made available to empty apartments, and sometimes people move into them in the middle of a collection period. He also noted three nearby municipalities in the Hazleton area pay at least $300 per year for garbage removal and don’t have the added benefits of bulk pickup, Christmas tree collection or lawn clippings included in the cost as Hazleton does.

Louis A. Tarone suggested the administration switch to a per-bag fee and sell municipal stickers that must be placed on each bag for collection.

Barletta said he agreed that’s an idea that should be pursued. He said it would be fairer to senior citizens who place one bag per week on the curb for collection while some household put 20 on the curb.

During council comment, Councilman Jack Mundie said he agrees with the residents and a new system for garbage collection is needed.

“We have (a group of) people who owe us $1 million, maybe more, (in garbage fees). And whose fault is that? That’s our fault. We’re not doing our job as a city. If there’s people that owe us $1 million in garbage fees, somebody screwed up. We did. And I’m taking the blame, too. And we shouldn’t be making other people pay for our mistakes,” Mundie said.

Also during council comment, Council President Joe Yannuzzi said that, according to city code, Barletta’s budget proposal was not to be released to the public until after a first reading at a public meeting by council. Yet “somebody here … ran with it to the media.”

After the meeting, city solicitor Chris Slusser said the section of code to which Yannuzzi referred required the council clerk to make the budget proposal available to the public by a certain time but did not prohibit the earlier release of the proposal.

Yannuzzi said he thought releasing the proposal to the public before other council members received it was discourteous.