City hikes trash rates in face of rising costs

Garbage rates in the City of Clarendon will be going up eight percent as the city tries to keep up with rising costs of the service, and water rates may be going up soon also.

At their regular meeting last Tuesday, the Board of Aldermen approved the trash increase, which City Hall says will amount to about $1.39 per month for most residential customers.

The city must haul its garbage to the Memphis landfill. The City of Memphis has raised its landfill rates, and local officials also point to rising costs of labor and transportation. The city hopes to at least break even with this increase.

The increase will take effect April 1, 2014. The city last increased trash rates in 2012.

City leaders also began consideration of raising and restructuring water rates last week.

Greenbelt Water Authority General Manager Bobbie Kidd told aldermen that the wholesale cost the city pays for water has gone up several times since Clarendon last adjusted rates in 2009. And, Kidd said, at that point the city did not raise rates but only lowered the base usage from 5,000 gallons to 2,000 gallons.

Drought restrictions are also hurting the city because customers use less water, which impacts the city’s bottom line.

“Conservation is going to cause drastic changes in water rates,” Kidd told city leaders. “You have the same costs, but you have less product to sell.”

City Hall was going to propose an across-the-board water rate increase; but after visiting with Kidd, city leaders asked City Secretary Machiel Covey to put together a proposal for a tiered rate structure where the biggest water users would pay a greater cost.

Alderman Will Thompson said the tiered structure is common around the state, and city leaders said they wanted to avoid raising water rates on those who use very little water.

City leaders will also consider implementing some type of small commercial rate for businesses that use less than 1,000 gallons per month.

The water rate issue will be considered again on the city’s April 7 agenda.

In other city business, aldermen canceled their May election and declared the following unopposed candidates for the board as elected: John Lockhart and Aldermen Larry Jeffers and Beverly Burrow.

The board also approved making Librarian Jerri Ann Shields a part time employee with no city benefits temporarily at her request as she deals with a family health issue, and the board received an update on the bid process for a new city trash truck.