Council delays garbage decision
JANESVILLE — "You don't mess with people's trash," Councilman George Brunner said at Tuesday's study session on the landfill.
"That's something that's been said in Janesville for as long as I remember."
And so, the council won't. At least until August, when staff needs some direction to develop the 2011 budget.
Most council members appeared to favor combining a cut in service with an increase in fees and reducing the intake of garbage from outside the city to close a looming revenue gap.
There was a time when property taxes partially subsidized the landfill. But over the years the landfill began paying for the collection and disposal of residents' garbage—$1.1 million—and recycling.
In 2005, the city began to solicit out of county garbage. The landfill made enough money to subsidize the general fund—$450,000 in 2010.
Garbage, though, has dropped by almost a quarter since the start of the recession. The landfill still makes money to pay for itself but no longer for other city services.
In addition, some council members and community members are concerned about bringing outside trash into the city to more quickly fill the landfill and possibly increase health risks.
Carl Weber, public works director, said the council's decision to reduce trash would help the city bridge a 10-year gap when the city has no land to expand. At the current rate, the available space will run out in 2035. But the city's agreement with Janesville Sand & Gravel doesn't require the company to vacate the area until 2045.
Weber and his staff will return with more details in August.
They include:
-- Collecting garbage every other week for a savings of $305,000. Manager Eric Levitt said this is a major change, and the council must consider the ramifications, especially during the heat of summer. Yuri Rashkin was the only council member to say he didn't like that idea.
-- Reducing the flow of garbage. City residents generate about 16,000 tons of garbage a year, and that is not enough to efficiently run the landfill, Weber said. Most landfill costs are fixed, so staff will look at a suggested number between that and the current 250,000 tons.
-- A sticker so staff can easily identify residents at the landfill and charge non-residents for trash.
-- A user fee, either fixed or based on volume. Council members hope to get that fee below the suggested $42 when other options are included.
Council members discussed the relationship between bringing in outside garbage and increased health risks.
John Whitcomb, operations director, said the city assumed that health risk when it sited a landfill in its city limits decades ago. The city will end up with a fixed mass of waste whether it is in 10 or 20 years, he said.
The risk would be greater if residents get their water from rural wells, he said.
Kathy Voskuil said she would do her own research on that issue.
"I do struggle with the comment that there is not increased risk with increased garbage," she said.
May 28, 2010 at 6:23 a.m.
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Sorry - almost forgot - this is the garbage issue and I need to stay on that topic - I apologize. Spend millions for a new ice arena and then charge residents for an extra bag of garbage. - that logic works for me. :-)
May 28, 2010 at 6:18 a.m.
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Kathy V - How about doing some research on the SAFETY OF WALKING IN THE STREET because there is NO SIDEWALK from Briar Crest to Walmart or Sams Club! As you walk on East Rotamer Rd. - most traffic is passing you going 40 or 50 mph. Having a walking lane in the street does not make sense with traffic going that fast.
May 27, 2010 at 3:57 p.m.
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Stickers and charges are all well and good for the ones who keep things clean. What about the trash some people will just leave where it lay?
Ride by some homes when the maggots start producing.
May 27, 2010 at 3:21 p.m.
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JoyM-I am from Monroe and yes, we are required to use clear, blue bags for recycling. We can put out as many blue bags as we want, but we are only allowed one free bag of garbage a week. Anything more and you are required to put a $2 sticker on it. We also have to pay for stickers to put on our yard waste bags.
May 27, 2010 at 2:59 p.m.
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Is the user fee for curb pickup, or just what? Again, need to understand better. Also, I agree with the "evasion" part - which was one reason I mentioned that ALL our recycling does get picked up, not just specific #1 and #2 containers...hopefully, the contracted service doesn't just throw these other items in with landfill waste, but nothing gets left on our curb with any version of a pink nastygram that we weren't supposed to recycle it. I don't know if they still do it, but Monroe used to require clear blue bags for recycling and you could have as many as you wanted, but then you only got one large bag of garbage to put out a week, and if you needed more than that, you had to pre-buy stickers for a dollar in advance, and put it on the extra one. I know that resulted in people sending relatives off with junk in their trunk to other municipalities, so agreed on the evasion part!
May 27, 2010 at 1:27 p.m.
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JoyM, $100 is certainly more than the suggested $42. Stickers are an obvious logistical problem -- and might cost more to manage as a program than any savings from non-Janesville cheaters. Almost anything you do (stickers, bags, checking licenses) would increase costs at least a little. Then you have the aspect of process evasion if you impose any fees or limits, and you get trash dumped in ditches and vacant lots. Really, the situation we've had is near ideal, but the council has to look at the entire budget for potential savings and this is one where there are clear avenues to recovering costs from users directly.
May 27, 2010 at 9:46 a.m.
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"-- A sticker so staff can easily identify residents at the landfill and charge non-residents for trash." Would want to know more about that - we don't have a vehicle large enough to take trash to the landfill, so if we would need to do so, we'd have to ask a friend or relative with such a vehicle...and they might not live within the city limits and so they wouldn't have the sticker...why not just check driver's licenses/state IDs? Also, rural subdivisions get their trash AND recycling (all numbers, not just 1 and 2) picked up every week for what is currently around $100 a year on property taxes. What is causing the city of Janesville to be financially inefficient with the trash pickup? Need to understand better.
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