BY DAVE PARRO
The city of Aurora is now considering 13 options presented by Allied Waste for its next garbage contract. No matter what happens, we'll be looking at a price increase.
Pick your poison. Higher sticker prices? A flat fee? A property-tax increase? A recycling fee? There's a lot here to discuss, with the most important issue being fairness.
At my house on the West Side of Aurora, we use a sticker every two weeks or so. That comes to a little more than $61 a year at the current cost of $2.35 a sticker. Let's throw in 10 stickers for bulk items and yard waste annually. That comes to about $85.
In one scenario, the sticker price increases to $3.16, meaning I would pay about $114 a year. With the current sticker price but a $3 monthly recycling fee, the total comes to $121.
If the city pays the bill for garbage service, the owner of a $180,000 home would pay an additional $150 a year in property taxes. That means my bill would come to about $200.
A property-tax increase doesn't make any sense. Why should the owner of a more-expensive home pay more for service? A bigger or nicer house doesn't automatically mean more garbage. The same goes for a flat fee; a resident who throws away less trash should pay less than someone who doesn't watch the amount of garbage they generate or how much they recycle.
Allied's first proposal is the best one. I'm willing to pay a higher sticker price of $3.16 if it means I can control my costs. And it still offers residents who throw away more the option of a flat fee for a 65-gallon cart ($216 a year) or 95-gallon cart ($243) if they don't want to use, say, two stickers a week ($329).
We pay enough in property taxes already. Let's let the people make smart choices that keep their own costs down instead of just resorting to another tax hike.
I agree--it's about fairness.
And it's only fair that those who generate more garbage pay more. A slightly higher sticker price seems like the best option for everyone.
Those big plastic carts would be a nightmare on a windy day, blowing out into the street and blocking people's driveways. And a lot of people would be less likely to recycle anything, since there would be no financial incentive to do so.
Keep the sticker system!!
With the amount of money people pay in taxes the garbage sticker should be a small fee or it should be added into a seperate flat garbage tax not based on cost of property. After all house cost has no connection to how much garbage someone has.
Why is Oswego paying only $2.05 for a garbage sticker and Aurora would have to pay over $3.
As far as recycling it should be free. With the proper system it pays for itself.