City Council Approves New Garbage Fee

Washington City Council held their voting meeting Thursday and approved the new fee for solid waste and recycling collection. The new fee is $300 per year per dwelling. A one time late fee of $30 dollars will be assessed if payment is not made by the due date. The new service begins in January. Bigs Sanitation will be sending pickup schedules to all city residents by the end of the year. Council also adopted their preliminary budget. Currently the spending plan sits just over $15 million. The budget is still under scrutiny to locate any other savings. The budget does not include a tax raise. Taxes in the city have not been raised since 2019. Council approved the hiring of three public works employees. This will bring the department within one person of being fully staffed. City Hall will be closed on November 10 for Veterans Day. It will also close November 23 and 24 for Thanksgiving.