January 26, 2006

County OKs increase in rural garbage collection rates

By Damian Mann
For the Tidings

An ongoing dispute over garbage rates rattled Jackson County commissioners Wednesday and left rural Ashland residents fuming.

Despite opposition from more than a dozen residents, commissioners unanimously approved surcharges by Ashland Sanitary Service Inc. to pick up garbage 40 yards or more from a publicly maintained road.

“We’re sadly misrepresented,” said Suzanne Witucki, a Morninglight Drive resident. “The rates that Ashland Sanitary are going to slap on us are way out of line.”

Chris Skreptos, a Highway 66 resident who has tangled with the county on land-use issues in the past, said the rate hike wasn’t “reasonable.”

Resident Jerry Taylor suggested commissioners had received some sort of payoff to approve the hikes.

“This one doesn’t pass a very good smell test,” Taylor said.

Commissioners C.W. Smith and Jack Walker bristled at the suggestion of any kind of corruption.

“I’ve heard enough about being dishonest and violating the law,” Smith said. “I’ve had enough of that.”

“That was totally out of line,” Walker said.

The rate hikes, a compromise from Ashland Sanitary’s original proposal, add $12 a month (beyond the basic rate of $15.07) for garbage 40 yards to one-half mile off a publicly maintained road; $24 for containers one-half mile to one mile; and $40 for those beyond a mile.

On Oct. 6, commissioners had set the rate at $24 for 40 yards up to one mile. Previously, customers were charged a flat fee of $4.40 to go beyond 10 yards.

The sanitary company services about 1,150 rural customers. Of these, about 200 will be affected by the new rates.

Property owners said the rate hike would hurt the elderly and disabled who are on fixed incomes and can’t bring their garbage down their driveways or private roads.

Skreptos offered a compromise rate plan based on actual distance from a public road.

For instance, a garbage can that was placed 55 yards from a road would have a $1.50 surcharge. A can that is 110 yards would have a surcharge of $3.

Kimberly Young, who said she has stopped using Ashland Sanitary, said the rates weren’t fair because on some private roads there are multiple residences where trash is picked up, so the cost should be spread out.

Young, like other residents, thought the commissioners weren’t listening to their constituents in deciding the rate hikes.

“It was my understanding that the commissioners were there to take care of me,” she said. “It seems like they’re taking care of Ashland Sanitary.”

Commissioner Dave Gilmour admitted that mistakes had been made over this issue, particularly that some affected residents hadn’t been notified of the changes initially.

He said Ashland Sanitary last September informed customers it would no longer pick up garbage that was more than 40 yards off a publicly maintained road. Gilmour said the company decided to take this action after it was sued by a property owner whose gate was damaged by a garbage truck.

Ashland Sanitary wasn’t legally obligated to pick up garbage off roadways but had been doing so as a courtesy to its customers, said Gilmour.

Because of resident complaints, the county hired Seattle-based R.W. Beck Inc. to compare rates with other sanitary districts.

But Gilmour said it was difficult to get a good comparison because each sanitation district calculates rates differently, some going by mileage, others by travel time.

Even though he acknowledged that some residents aren’t happy, Gilmour said the new rate was a considerable improvement over the old one.

“The new rates to me seem reasonable,” he said.