Fiscal Court OKs measure that will increase garbage rates 50 cents effective July

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday, June 16, 2020 — Despite Republican state representative candidate Don Thrasher’s campaign claim that he stopped a garbage rate hike, Nelson Fiscal Court unanimously approved first reading of an ordinance that will increase the county’s garbage rates 50 cents a month for this year, and an extra 50 cents a month increase for each of the following years.

The approval came after considerable discussion by the court, with questions seeking justification for raising the rates — which have been the same since 2013.

The ordinance the magistrates approved also raises dumpster rates by 3.5 percent over the next three years.

John Greenwell, the county’s solid waste director, explained that the county’s garbage rates have failed to keep up with the rate of inflation. As salaries, equipment and expenses have risen, the revenue produced by the garbage fee has not kept pace.

The county currently uses five trucks for garbage collection each week. The two oldest trucks are 9 and 12 years old, and the 9-year-old truck has ongoing mechanical issues, Greenwell said.

The county currently has one new garbage truck on order.

Due to the stop-and-start nature of their use, the number of miles a truck may show doesn’t reflect the actual wear-and-tear on that truck, Greenwell explained.

The box on garbage trucks typically rust and corrode over the years, Greenwell explained. The county shop can make repairs, but “you get to the point where there’s nothing left to weld to,” he said.

“We’re probably a truck — maybe two trucks — behind on our needs,” Judge Executive Dean Watts told the court. “We just need an infusion of revenue.”

Greenwell compared the county’s current rate of $14.50 with what other counties charge, noting that Nelson County provides services that other counties do not, like bulky item pickup, free annual passes to the landfill for each household in the county, and free dead animal removal for farmers.

Some counties have had to resort to using pickup trucks for garbage pickup because their rates can’t cover the purchase of new garbage trucks, he explained.

Bulky item pickup is a service that actually costs the county money; the current garbage fee doesn’t cover that cost, leaving the county to subsidize the annual pickup.

Magistrate Jeff Lear asked Watts for the actual cost of bulky item pickup, including what the county contributes. The annual pickup is a service that shouldn’t be subsidized with tax dollars, he said.

The second reading and adoption of the garbage rate ordinance will come as early as fiscal court’s next meeting.

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