Last Updated on August 7, 2019 by cassnetwork
With a new city trash contract looming in the budget year ahead, one option being considered to reduce cost is expanding the area for pick-up and recycling.
Logansport’s trash contract will expire in 11 months. Mayor Dave Kitchell said the coming months are a good time to consider ways to contain expenses is to bid areas outside the city in the Logansport Municipal Utilities service area as part of the contract.
“We’ve not done that before, but the economies of scale are expected to make the cost of pick-up and recycling more attractive to bidders,” the mayor said Wednesday. “Given the fact that we use LMU for billing local residents for the city trash fee now, it would make sense to use the same billing system for customers outside the city.”
Roughly half of LMU’s service area is outside the city limits in townships surrounding Eel and in unincorporated areas of Eel Township.
Kitchell said increasing volumes of recycling collected at the fairground and the industrial park indicate a growing demand for recycling services in the community. Residents outside the city have virtually been left to fend for themselves in finding trash services, and may be able to realize some savings on their annual trash bills.
“Rural LMU customers already pay a rate 25 percent higher than city residents for their utilities, and this is a way LMU customers in this area could derive increased value from being in the service area.”
Creating normal trash collection routes for rural areas would be more efficient than allowing multiple trash haulers to collect in rural areas of the county, he added.
City officials have been exploring ways to contain trash collection and recycling costs which have surpassed revenue collected from landfill tipping fees.
SOURCE: News release from Logansport Mayor Dave Kitchelle