COMMENTARY | The council apparently doesn't want to touch the trash fee, which hasn't been increased in more than a decade. That is a substantial reason the trash fund is bankrupted.
The trash fund, financed by a $12.65 fee charged to residents, will be more than $34 million in the red by next September, according to estimates from the City Council Auditor's Office, which has raised red flags over the floundering state of the trash fund for years.
The council apparently doesn't want to touch the trash fee, which hasn't been increased in more than a decade. That is a substantial reason the trash fund is bankrupted. City officials were warned for years the fee was no longer enough to cover the cost of the services provided. Instead of making the difficult but necessary decision to increase it, they sat on it, knowing it was plunging the trash fund deeper into debt.
Council members were so reticent to talk about a trash fee increase they seriously considered simply eliminating the trash fund altogether, wrapping the cost of pickup into the general fund along with all the important quality-of-life services. The idea felt born out of some misguided gut feeling that deleting the trash fund will also delete the problem, but all that would do is create new complications.
In the meantime, the trash fund will continue to sink, giving the city little flexibility in moments of crisis — like the post-COVID hiring difficulties private haulers and the city said were a driving force behind the problems in late 2021 and earlier this year.No one wants to pay more for services, particularly during an economic slowdown coupled with inflation, thinning out checking accounts.
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