City Residents Should Prepare For Trash Bill Increase

Washington City Council has unsealed bids for solid waste collection for the next five years. City Administrator Donn Henderson opened the bids from 3 providers. Those companies making bids were current hauler Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill, commonly referred to as County Hauling, Bigs Sanitation and Waste Management. Henderson said that he and the solicitor will comb through the bids. The city requested proposals for two options of trash collection using the traditional method and a third option using automated collection on those two options. All bids differ with Bigs Sanitation not bidding on the automated process and Waste Management bidding only on an automated process. County Hauling did offer bids on all scenarios. Henderson hopes to be able to have council award a bid at Thursday’s voting meeting. He cautioned residents that from a quick glance at the numbers, they should expect approximately a 30% increase in their trash bills over the length of the five year contract with annual increases throughout contract. Additionally, council will enact a registration fee for rental units in the city that was approved earlier in the year. The fee will be $15 per unit and information collected will be building owner, manager and name of lessee for each unit. According to Henderson the data collected will be used only in an emergency situation. Council will also consider several parking and traffic ordinances and changes to the ordinance governing business tax abatement privileges.