The Public Works Committee will meet today at 12:00 p.m. in the Conference Room of City Hall on Beckford Drive. The purpose of the meeting will be further discussion of curbside garbage collection.
Although once per week curbside collection will save over $300,000 per year in sanitation operations, the pass-through savings to city residents will amount to only $37-$38 per year. However, as City Manager Jerry Moss stated at the February 26 Henderson City Council meeting, the switch is expected to prevent cost increases in the future by saving on the number of sanitation vehicles the City must acquire, as well as on worker compensation claims the City must pay due to injuries sustained by sanitation workers in the course of backyard trash pickup.
According to Moss, 81% of North Carolina residents are served by curbside trash removal.
Although two-thirds a trial group responded positively to curbside pickup, many residents view the proposed change as a reduction in service that is not adequately compensated by the savings on the sanitation bill.
During a public hearing on the subject on February 26, speakers seemed evenly divided on the issue, speaking in favor of the change as well as in favor of retaining the current service. Concern was also expressed regarding service to Henderson’s elderly and infirmed population and the means of determining who would qualify for continued backyard service.
The current plan calls for a physician’s note to exempt residents from a proposed ordinance that would require sanitation customers to roll their waste to the curb.
The Council is expected to take the issue up again at its regular March 12 meeting.