Garbage Districts
Garbage Districts
The goal of creating garbage districts is to allow the waste removal companies to be more efficient in their collections, which would reduce costs to residents as well as reduce gas use, reduce noise, and even help with regards to the post-pandemic labor market. The concept is simple. Break the Town up into small districts that comprise a neighborhood area that could be efficiently serviced by a waste removal company. When enough properties in a district have signed up, the Town would go out to bid to waste removal companies for them to provide collection services for that district. The winning company would then collect all of the waste for all of the properties that have signed up. If the threshold for creating the district were 75% participation, for instance, then that means the waste removal company, rather than stopping at less than 50% of the properties, like today, would stop at greater than 75% of the properties, and so their per house costs would go down and they could pass those savings onto the customer.
Not a Government Take-Over
To be clear, this is not the Town taking over the waste removal. The property owners would be billed directly by the company that wins the bid. That company would interface directly with the customer. If there were issues, the customer would contact the company. However, there would also be the added weight of the Town should a company prove to be continually unresponsive to customer complaints.
No Forced Participation
In addition, no one would be forced to participate. If people signed up and we went out to bid, then the winning price would be shared with those who signed up for final confirmation and if enough people sign on to meet the participation threshold, then the district is created. If the threshold is not met, then the district is not created.
Increased Cost Savings as Participation Rises
The current plan would be to specify a consistent set of services and discounts when going out to bid. The response would then include the prices if different levels of participation were achieved. So, for instance, there would be one price if 75% participation were achieved, and a lower price if 80% participation were achieved, and a lower still price if 85% participation were achieved. That way, as more people sign on, and thus the waste removal company's per-property costs are reduced, all the residents in the district benefit from lower prices.
New Calls for the Idea
When this was first proposed there was a lot of pushback, especially from those customers with the small, local providers like Al's. However, since that time, those small, local providers were nearly all purchased by a national firm. As prices rise and services diminish, there have been a lot of people reaching out, asking about the rekindling the idea.
Gathering Data
So now, as detailed in the Town Newsletter, we are collecting information to try to assess the interest in participating in such a program, what types of services participants would like to see, and what discounts participants would like to see. You can use this form or copy and paste the form below and send it to to the Town Supervisor (Supervisor@Henrietta.org).
I am [_] interested or [_] not interested in participating in a garbage district.
I would like my waste bin collected:
[_] once per week
[_] once every other week
[_] other: _________________________________
I would like my recycle bin collected:
[_] once per week
[_] once every other week
[_] other: _________________________________
I would like to see the following discounts:
[_] for seniors
[_] for veterans
[_] for annual pre-payment
[_] other: _________________________________
Other Comments:___________________________________________________
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