JONESBORO — During a special called meeting Oct. 30, the Jonesboro City Council approved increases in its sanitation rates.
The Council unanimously voted to increase rates and to not move forward with outsourcing sanitation services. Mayor Donya Sartor disagreed with both votes. Council members Tracey Messick and Alfred Dixon were absent from the meeting.
The new fee schedule will go into effect in January.
A glance at the new annual fees:
Residential: Increased from $200 to $225 for first garbage can and $120 for each additional can.
Commercial: Increased from $200 to $246 for the first can and $144 for each additional can.
Jonesboro Housing Authority: Increased from $171 to $200.
The City of Jonesboro serves nearly 1,300 sanitation customers.
The City Council had been considering contracting out services to private company.
In a June 5 work session, Public Works Director John Burdin told the Council that a third of public works staff could be freed up to do other jobs such as grounds and facilities maintenance.
He also said it contributes to low morale and each garbage truck requires a CDL driver.
“It’s been challenging to find one, much less two or three,” Burdin said during the June 5 work session.
He said there was one case where a drivers wasn’t available so someone from IT filled in.
“The fact that we had an IT person who was having to help out with a trash route is bad planning,” Burdin said.
Burdin also said garbage trucks are expensive to repair because of the specialized hydraulics.
The City spent $400,000 on a new truck in 2009 and other trucks will need to be repaired, he said.
Insurance is also higher in garbage trucks with the City paying annually premiums of $10,000. The City also pays $6,000 in Workman’s Compensation insurance as well.
He also said trash cans need to be replaced from time to time and $60,000 has…
Read the full article here
