Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE — Even though he wants residents to pay more to collect their recyclables, Mayor Tony George considers the $60 annual fee he’s proposed to balance the budget a “gift.”
City council approved the $50.4 million budget in December, but last week deadlocked on a vote to raise the fee by $10, leading George to lobby for the increase in the service the city provides to pick up paper, plastics and metals curbside.
“That was a shock to me,” George said Friday of council’s 2-2 vote on the second of two readings of the ordinance to raise the fee from $50. A first reading passed 4-0 and the budget also sailed through 4-1.
The legislation to amend the city’s Code of Ordinance isn’t on the agenda for council’s Feb. 21 public meeting, but will be reintroduced at a later date, officials said.
In their push for the fee increase, George and his administration said the city collected 3,265 tons of recyclables last year and transported the material to Northeast Cartage & Recycling Solutions in Hanover Township.
But instead of making money from the sale of the material, George estimated the city pays between $9,000 and $10,000 a month to have it taken off its hands due to a tightened global market for recyclables. The higher fee George proposed would raise an additional $140,000 and fill in an $840,000 revenue line item in this year’s budget.
If council votes it down, George said he will have to find the money somewhere else, but offered no specifics. “It’s going to have to be through other sources,” he said.
The city also might consider another method to collect and charge for recycling.
Bags would cost more
The annual fee was first imposed in 2004 and cost $25 under former Mayor Tom Leighton. Council increased it to $40 in 2009 to generate $591,500 in annual revenue. In 2013, council raised it to $50 to generate $693,750 in revenue. The budgeted revenue increased to $695,000 in 2015 and $700,000 when George took office in 2016. It’s remained at $700,000 in 2017 and 2018.
The year-end draft financial report for December 2018 listed $640,038 in revenues collected or 91 percent of the budgeted amount. City Finance Officer Brett Kittrick said he expected the final number to meet the budgeted amount when additional revenue is posted to the account by the end of this month.
If the city switched to a bag system from containers, a possibility that George said could become a reality with the complete collapse of the market for recyclables, residents would pay much more.
At $2.60, the price for a city issued 30-gallon garbage bag, the annual cost for a resident who puts out a bag of recycling a week would be $135.20, more than double the proposed fee.
That’s why the mayor observed: “The recycling fee is a gift.”
Other townships and cities don’t provide the same recycling services as the city that also picks up yard waste, George said. It doesn’t cost the city a tipping fee at landfill to dispose of the grass clippings and leaves because they are clean fill and not garbage. But it’s an expense to the city to have Department of Public Works employees collect it and truck it to the landfill, the mayor noted.
‘Treating everyone fairly’
Council vice chairman Bill Barrett agreed the city provides more in terms of recycling services than other municipalities. Some don’t even collect recyclables, he said. “You have to take it someplace and physically put it in your car,” Barrett said when he voted in favor of the first reading of the ordinance Jan. 24.
“It is a service and it does come with a cost. We’re not trying to make anything. We’re just trying to even it out a little bit,” Barrett said.
But he switched his “yes” to “no” at the second reading during council’s meeting Feb. 7. He explained his opposition was over how the city dealt with collection of delinquent accounts for the fee.
“I just want to make sure that we are treating everyone fairly,” Barrett said Thursday.
The fee is collected by the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority that issues bills each October. There is no discount for early payment and a 6 percent penalty is charged for late payments. City Attorney Tim Henry said the WVSA sends the city a list of delinquent accounts. The city files liens against properties in arrears of the fee. But Henry said the overdue accounts have to reach a high level before the liens are filed.
Barrett said he’s requested information from the city on the number of liens filed for overdue accounts. Henry added that he’s reached out to the WVSA for “substantive details” in order to present that information to council.
Barrett also said he has asked the city for information on how other municipalities across the state administer recycling programs. Preliminary data shows the city is on the low side of fees charged to residents, he said.
If he’s satisfied with the information he receives and it’s determined the city’s fee is below the median level for the state, Barrett said he would “be inclined” to support the higher fee.