Refuse bills may wait

Local News

October 25, 2011

By Joyce Miles Lockport Union-Sun & Journal The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Tue Oct 25, 2011, 12:38 AM EDT

LOCKPORT — The city treasurer’s office is looking at sending property owners’ first bills for Modern Disposal refuse service in 2012.

In late summer, Treasurer Mike White said the office might send two bills this year, one reflecting the city’s cost of trash pickup from January through September, and a second bill reflecting two months of user fees being charged for private pickup and recycling by Modern.

The first bill, for city service, isn’t “completely” calculated yet, White said Monday. City workers continued picking up trash, and driving it to the Modern landfill, until Oct. 13. The last expenses incurred by the city won’t be tabbed until October bills and statements are accounted after the end of the month, he said.

The city is sending bills for public pickup because the Common Council did not include refuse services in the 2011 city budget, which means it didn’t raise the money, through property taxation, to cover payroll, fuel, equipment and landfilling expenses. The expenses have been paid all through the year, from the general fund, though; so the total cost is to be divided equally among properties that received city service, and bills sent, so the general fund can be repaid.

The city refuse bill will be around $150 per property, White said.

The timing of its arrival — probably no earlier than mid-November — has caused the treasurer’s office to rethink the billing cycle for Modern service.

The office sending property owners a bill for $150 in November, then hitting them with another bill in December for Modern’s services, is a troubling thought, White said.

“We’re not playing politics, we’re scared to death of the people coming in to pay these bills,” he said, only half joking. “We know it’s unprecedented ... and we just want to help folks out.”

The office is looking at trying to time refuse bills so they’re not coinciding with other bills from government — school tax, city tax, county tax, water and sewer charges — or peak utility use months, White said. It was already established that the city should bill properties twice a year for refuse service, and at this point, the months of March and October look like a good bet. Gas and electric bills typically are lower in those months, he said.

“The question we’re asking is, what can we do to make this the most affordable transition? We want to do this the right way,” White said. “If we don’t think it all the way through, it comes back.”

At the Council meeting last week, a resident intimated White’s office might delay sending the city refuse bills until after the Nov. 8 election. White denies that.

“Neither billing module (formula) is totally complete yet. We’re still getting information in, and we’re trying to do it all right the first time,” he said. “(The delay) totally isn’t for political reasons on the part of this office.”

The billing “module” for Modern service is based on the size of refuse cart(s) or dumpsters assigned to a property, frequency of pickup and the like. Already, some residential property owners have been changing their cart sizes — the city did offer one “free” cart up- or down-sizing within the first year of the program — and the treasurer’s office is updating records as the changes are made, White said. That’s critical, as cart size is driving the bills to individual property owners.

“We understand people are anxious about getting their bills. We think they’d agree, a little delay is better than doing everything twice,” he said.

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