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Sylacauga City Council approves June 1 inflation adjustment to city garbage contract; charge not passed along to customers

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SYLACAUGA, Ala. – The Sylacauga City Council held its second meeting for the month on Tuesday night. The council voted on multiples items impacting city business.

During its scheduled meeting, the council unanimously voted to approve a consumer price index (CPI)-related inflation adjustment with the city’s waste removal company, WastePro. The city’s cost from WastePro will increase by $0.36 effective June 1. The increase will not be passed along to customers.

City Council President Lee Perryman made it clear this is not a raise in rates, and nothing more than the city’s contractual obligation to WastePro which applied to the city and not directly to the customer.

“Simply put, the city has a contract with WastePro, and standard terms provide for certain inflation-related increases linked to the Consumer Price Index. In this case, that means another 36 cents per customer per month is due to WastePro. The council’s approval was symbolic, as it’s a contractual obligation, and had we not recently reduced services, the increase would have been much larger,” Perryman explained.

Perryman noted very few cities fund the luxury of twice-a-week trash pickup. He said the City of Sylacauga continues to subsidize trash collection and street services, and, without the financially prudent choice to revert to one day each week, the City would have needed to raise other fees and taxes to find needed cash for more important projects.

“I will always prefer finding ways to cut costs rather than increase financial burdens on consumers. Most people “get it” and can live without a second weekly garbage pickup, so it made little economic sense to continue paying for an unnecessary second pickups at 5,000+ locations. People who can’t get by with a single 95-gallon container can get an extra one for only $5 per month,” said Perryman.

Perryman noted other local media interpreted the action as meaning a rate increase would apply to consumers. He confirmed that is not the case.

The following actions were also taken by the council:

  • Authorization of $5,000 expense to Alabama Spay & Neuter Clinic to provide spay/neuter services for animal shelter animals which are to be adopted (donor funds will match city funds dollar for dollar).
  • Approved a request for refund of over-payment of 2017 business license fees at the amount of $20 for Allstate Insurance Company and Allstate Indemnity Company.
  • Approved request for refund of garbage fees to Amanda Ledbetter paid  on garage apartment storage only from March 2014 to the present totaling $562.20.
  • Approved balance of accounts payable for April in the amount of $190,758.69.
  • Approved payroll for April in the amount of $357,625. 96.
  • Approved a request from Street Superintendent Reed Calfee for authorization to request a job posting for a construction worker to replace a resigned employee.

Jeremy Law for SylacaugaNews.com | © 2017, SylacaugaNews.com/Marble City Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.


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