Trash rates may need to be increased by 30 percent City Administrator Lambert Little told the Clarendon Board of Aldermen at their regular meeting last Tuesday. But he says citizens can keep that from happening if they step up and help the city save money in its sanitation department.
Little says the current municipal budget planned for the sanitation department to run a deficit of 6.3 percent but the actual loss is going to be between 10 and 15 percent. To get the department back in the black would take a rate increase of 15 percent. To earn enough money to purchase much needed equipment would mean increasing city trash rates by 30 percent, he said.
There are alternatives to higher rates – reporting and recycling.
“If we could stop theft of service, we would not have to do this,” Little said, referring to rural residents who bring their trash to town and fill up city Dumpsters. “It’s out of control. There are enough folks using our Dumpsters from out of town that we could keep our rates low if we could stop them.”
Little says he doesn’t want to pit city folks against county folks, but he also says the situation is out of hand.
City Hall encourages anyone who sees people improperly using a Dumpster to report those individuals to the city or the sheriff’s office. Illegal dumping is a violation of city ordinance and carries of fine of up to $2,000.
Little said it would help also if citizens would recycle more. The city pays for trash going to the Memphis landfill by weight, so recycling and keeping leaves and grass clippings out of Dumpsters cuts costs for the city.
In other city business, the board approved a new policy for leak adjustments on water bills. If a citizen has had a leak and proves they have fixed the leak, City Hall will charge that customer’s water usage from the same period the year before and then charge the city’s wholesale cost for the excess water.
Aldermen authorized the purchase of a used trash truck for $15,000.
Resolutions of Agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation were approved to replace the bridge on Rosenfield Street and the Seventh Street Bridge at City Park.
Little says the old bridge at the park likely will not be demolished but might be moved to a new location for pedestrian traffic, and Mayor Larry Hicks has inquired about the possibility of putting the new bridge next to the old one. The bridge design has not been finalized, city officials said.
The board discussed and approved spending $1,500 to $2,000 for a facilitator to help aldermen do a long-range planning session for future city goals.
The board conducted a six-month evaluation of the city administrator.
The resignation of Alderman Jeremy Powell was accepted with regret. Powell moved outside the city limits.
Aldermen discussed the need to replace a fire truck that was totaled when it was wrecked while responding to an accident earlier this year. The volunteer fire department will hold a fundraiser later this year to purchase a new truck, and the city will support those fundraising efforts.
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