An appropriation ordinance to provide an increase in the monthly fee for Jefferson County garbage pickup was amended slightly by the Quorum Court during its regular meeting Monday.
The ordinance, which was passed in November, raised the customer rate from $18.12 to $26.72, which took effect in January.
The county signed a sanitation contract with Waste Management that gradually increases the rate it charges the county until 2024. To offset the rising expense, the Quorum Court voted to increase the rate paid by customers.
In years past, the county has come up short more than $100,000, County Judge Gerald Robinson said in November.
He said the ordinance needed to be amended.
"The calculations for the increase in sanitation fees are correct," Robinson said in a letter to the Quorum Court on March 18. "However, when the document was transcribed, $1 was left off on the request sent."
The fee breakdown included:
• Postage (35 cents per postcard)
• Administrative Fee/Software ($1.35)
• Commissions ($1.78)
• Office Supplies and Printing ($3.20)
• 7.75% taxes ($1.92)
The final new charge will still be $26.72, effective through the end of 2024.
Jefferson County resident Kristie Carroll spoke against the ordinance, saying she felt residents should see a gradual increase in their bill instead of a bigger increase all at once.
Carroll said she met with Robinson about three months ago and was told the amount charged to customers above the waste management fee will pay for two bill-paying kiosks, a telephone system designated for sanitation, and an employee to handle business affairs for this department.
"Decrease the fee and charge the customer no more than necessary," said Carroll, who added that the increase has affected 6,094 residents. "Any unnecessary cost is a cost to the affected customer; therefore those charges should be approved by the customer. It's the customer's money."
"I think we should be fair to all the citizens and all the customers and charge them appropriately," said Carroll.
In a follow-up interview with Robinson, the judge said if he could have avoided the increase he would have, but there was no other option.
"We were already having to pull $363,000 from County general [fund] to finish paying sanitation and the employees out of it to make it to the end of the year," he said. "When Waste Management raised their price, that meant we were already behind the eight-ball. We were going to have to spend more money and be out of more money ...close to $170,000."
Robinson said if they gradually increased the rate, come October the county would have to pull a substantial amount of money out of the general fund to finish out the year.
"By the time 2024 gets here, we will still have to get a little bit of money out of County general, but not as much," said Robinson, who added that since the increase has been in effect, his office has not received many complaints.
The motion to amend the ordinance was passed.
In other county business, a vote to allow the Road Department to hire an employee to assist the environmental enforcement officer and an employee to help with the Sanitation Billing Department was passed over the opposition of Justice Alfred Carroll.
Since January, four water companies decided not to bill and collect for the county, leaving only two companies, Liberty Utilities and Wright Pastoria Water Association, on board.
Robinson said the sanitation billing slot was filled before the pandemic, but the employee was furloughed.
"We did have a person at the Road Department that did do some collecting in the Sanitation Department," said Robinson. "We furloughed that individual and did not bring them back, not knowing the water companies that we were dealing with that were billing for us and collecting for us would not renew their contract."
Robinson said the extra work was put on his administrative secretary, which was too much work to handle with more than 7,000 customers.
A move to allow the county assessor to waive the bidding process and allow her to renew a contract with Eagle View/Pictometry in order for their appraisers to continue to do a more accurate job to discover and measure property within the county was also approved.
