FAIRHOPE – Garbage rates are not covering the costs of collecting material twice a week in Fairhope, leaving city officials debating cutting services or increasing fees.
During budget discussions at the Jan. 25 City Council work session, members said garbage revenue is not keeping up with costs.
“I’m starting to get a little bit concerned about the revenues in our Sanitation Department and the costs that it takes us to collect our garbage and I know that we just had some annual increases,” Council President Jack Burrell said. “I hate to say this, but to me, they look a little low.”
City Treasurer Kim Creek said the current rates for collection twice a week in Fairhope are less than those charged in other areas where garbage is picked up once a week. Fairhope charges $15.80 a month. By comparison, Baldwin County charges $16 a month to pick up garbage once a week.
When private contractors submitted proposals for similar service in Daphne several months ago, most submissions were about $21 or $22 a month, Creech said.
“What you want to be able to do is capture your costs,” Creech said. “You want your revenues to cover your costs and at $15.80, you’re not covering your costs for twice a week service. Y’all did do an increase in the last couple of years. The last increase was last year, so this year’s revenue is flat, but our costs keep going up.”
Councilman Kevin Boone said officials and residents may soon have to choose between service and fees.
“It’s simple economics,” Boone said. “If you’re going to do it twice a week and you’re losing money, you either have to go up on the rate or cut the times.”
Councilman Robert Brown said that while the city should not make a profit on garbage collection, Fairhope should not lose money either.
“We shouldn’t be losing on providing the service,” Brown said. “We should break even on garbage pickup. We shouldn’t be making money, but we should be breaking even.”
Brown said that if Fairhope residents have to choose between cutting service or increasing fees, he believed most people would prefer to pay more to continue twice a week collection.
“I did a little unofficial survey when this topic came up last year -- drop it to once a week or leave it at twice a week and it was 75 percent of the people who responded said keep it to twice a week and charge whatever it costs, Brown said.
Council members will discuss garbage rates and other financial issues during budget discussions in February.
