Garbage Proposal Q & A – September 2012 What is wrong with our current waste and recycling system? Overall we have a system that works well for the residents and provides a competitive choice in waste haulers. However, the problems of fly dumping and garbage accumulation are impacting the entire community. Neighborhoods should not have to tolerate hazardous issues when steps can be taken to more effectively and efficiently address the issues. The most practical step is to establish a tracking and enforcement mechanism by adding the basic charge for garbage service to the utility bill, as many cities are already doing. Why doesn’t the city focus on those who are causing the problems? The city does issue citations for individuals who do not comply with the garbage requirement and to anyone who is fly dumping. However, city resources are limited to a complaint based system that must follow a complicated multi‐step process: checking for service, issuing violation letters, scheduling administrative court hearings, pursuing in circuit court. The process takes weeks or months and if the resident establishes new service for a brief time or corrects the problem, the process starts all over again. There is no consistent mechanism under the current system to collect garbage fees from all residents who should have garbage service. 1 How would placing the garbage on the CWLP bill help? By placing basic service on the bill the city would be almost certain that all households have and are paying for garbage service in accordance with our city regulations. With mandated service at every residence fly dumping would be significantly reduced and allow more staff time and resources on other neighborhood issues. If the basic rate is collected through the CWLP bill the incentive not to have service is eliminated. . Why doesn’t the city use the list provided by the waste haulers and go after those who do not have service? The city’s environmental housing inspectors do locate and prosecute violators. The first problem is the list is only as good as of the day it arrives. Haulers drop and add customers periodically. So far in 2012, 766 citations were issued for fly dumping and another 293 for not having garbage service. These citations are primarily complaint driven. Hiring more inspectors might help, but not in any significant way and the costs would be tremendous. With the tight budgets facing the city and the need to do more with less something that could be dealt with very simply by placing on the utility bill is a far more efficient use of taxpayers’ money than hiring more inspectors. We would much rather assign our inspectors to address issues such as abandoned houses, weeds, abandoned cars, dangerous stairs and porches. All residential dwellings need electricity so by placing the basic garbage fee on the monthly electricity bills it is significantly more likely that this fee will be paid by all consumers, as the potential for losing electric service is not an option anyone can live with. 2 How many households are there in the city that should have garbage service? The most recent information from haulers indicates 35,489 residential addresses have service with one of the four major haulers. There are approximately 45,000 households in the city that should have basic garbage service. Within that discrepancy are a variety of situations that will be tracked and addressed by the Office of Public Works. The difficulty with the current system is that the list is outdated as soon as it is provided to the city. Time and resources are utilized to simply verify service. The next day a resident can temporarily reestablish service or they can be dropped for nonpayment. All of which would have to be re‐verified using limited time and resources before any enforcement mechanisms could be utilized.. By establishing a list tied to the CWLP bill the city will have an accurate and consistent accounting of who is required to have service and a way to collect fees and follow up on non payments. The current estimate is that 3,000 occupied households without service that should have it. Regardless of city ordinances, aren’t there still areas outside of city and unincorporated areas that fly dump in the city? Putting the garbage fees on the utility bill will not completely eliminate all fly dumping but it will help in most areas of the city. It would also provide a blueprint to address the surrounding communities about a more comprehensive approach to waste and recycling. 3 What is the city doing with the current list of customers provided by the waste haulers? The lists are provided to the Office of Public Works which uses the names and addresses to match garbage service when complaints are received. However, housing still checks with haulers to verify that the resident does have service. Often, the city simply calls haulers as will need to do anyway. It is primarily used as a starting point determining if a residence has service or not. The lists are to be provided on a monthly basis, but there are routinely issues getting the lists on time and in the proper format. The problem with the lists and the formatting will be addressed by the Office of Public Works moving forward. How many no garbage complaints does the city get each year? 2012 ‐ 277 no garbage 766 fly dumping TOTAL 1043 (as of Sept 1) 2011 ‐ 293 no garbage‐ 629 fly dumping TOTAL 1059 2010 ‐ 253 no Garbage – 299 fly dumping TOTAL 552 2009 – 341 no garbage – 385 fly dumping TOTAL 626 2008 – 661 no garbage – 427 fly dumping TOTAL 1,088 2007 – 190 no garbage – 323 fly dumping TOTAL 513 4 It does not seem like there are that many houses without service why not focus on them? We believe there may be 3,000 or more households in the city without garbage service and the lack of service decreases the quality of life for the entire city. Without an efficient and effective enforcement mechanism, like requiring garbage service be paid for on the monthly utility bill, it is a challenge to get monitor compliance from those who do not have service. A significant amount of time and resources are allocated to the problem that could be easily addressed by holding all residents accountable for paying for garbage on their CWLP bill. What is the process for handling garbage complaints? Complaints are generally driven by neighbors calling about garbage accumulation at a house. Housing inspectors are sent out, that day or the next day to verify the complaint. They check the haulers list and or call haulers to determine if the home has garbage service. If there is not garbage service, then the city sends the resident a notice informing them of the need to maintain consistent garbage service. Currently the city gives seven days to comply. During the summer months Public Works has a policy to send out crews immediately to pick up waste, if it is accumulating to avoid the negative visual and health effects of the accumulation. If Public Works picks up the garbage the property owner is fined $250 for each pickup and the fine is then sent to the city’s legal department for administrative court enforcement. Even if the resident acquires service the property owner is still liable for the pickup fine. If the owner refuses to establish or 5 renew service then the case would proceed to circuit court in order to prosecute the fine. Why does the city not focus on the 3,000 who do not have the service that should as opposed to making everybody pay through the utility bill? By requiring payment on the utility bill the city is utilizing an existing billing process to insure that all occupied homes have waste services as required by city ordinance. This in turn will reduce staff time associated with enforcing this part of the code since all households will be paying for service. It means one less bill and one less check and stamp for residents. It is also a more efficient and effective use of city money and resources to guarantee all are paying for the service. Why punish the 95% who are not a problem getting and paying for garbage services? Placing the bill on the utility bill is not punishment but an added service. It allows residents to have one less bill saving residents a stamp and a check. It is also an issue of fairness in requiring those who are not paying to pay. Will the city pay waste haulers on time? The city of Springfield does not have the payment issues that the state does. The City almost always pays vendors within 30 days of being invoiced. Placing the garbage bill on the utility bill is also an advantage to the haulers. The city will save the haulers time and money by collecting through the utility bill they are already receiving. In this manner of collection, the waste haulers will not be responsible for 6 billing customers except for additional services beyond basic garbage services. Why does the city want to waste the time and resources as the bill collector on something already being done by waste haulers? The city already sends out a utility bill so we are already in the bill collection business. Also, with billing all residents that should have service, will have it and will pay for the service With haulers billing only their customers complete coverage is not guaranteed. Enforcement of the city code becomes cumbersome and time consuming. What will it cost the city to put the garbage rate on the utility bill? CWLP already send out a utility bill but there will have to be a modification made to the computerized billing program which is done from time to time anyway. The cost would be absorbed over a period of time through the waste and recycling fund. Furthermore, the city is already incurring a significant cost in dealing with those without service already. By placing garbage fees on the utility bill the city will be collecting from all residents and the overall costs will ultimately be reduced because of the savings in the amount of time and resources devoted to the problems of those without garbage service 7 Will the city have to hire more staff or pay for more software to handle the bill processing? No. Additional staff will not be needed to administer the change to the utility billing process. The Office of Public Works current staff will monitor invoices from the waste haulers and approve for payment. Any necessary software upgrades would be minimal and part of the periodic updating that is routine in today’s world. Will the city have to charge an administrative fee for the service? Any administrative fees will be absorbed through the waste and recycling fund and not charged to the garbage bill. Even though it is on the utility bill could the waste haulers just continue billing me for the same service? No, if waste haulers continue to bill separately for basic services customers would be paying twice and could have their license revoked for doing so. Based on the level of service and commitment we have in Springfield from our four major waste haulers we do not anticipate any hauler attempting to bill twice for basic services. What if a landlord requested a commercial account for several properties and the hauler rebated him? Then there would not be service at some rental units where we are attempting to get service. It would be the responsibility of the waste hauler and the resident to follow the city code for garbage service. A residential address is required to have onsite collection service and the electric customer will be paying for it through the utility bill. Haulers and property owners would be in violation and could be penalized for this action. 8 How would the city bill for neighborhoods that consolidate garbage service? A commercial account for instance? The city would work with such situations as long as each residential unit has access to basic garbage and recycling services. Also nothing prohibits a waste hauler from offering a rebate to individual homeowners from the basic rate charged by the city. That is a relationship between the hauler and the customer. How would the city bill for a mobile home park where residents get separate utility bills but the owner has a dumpster? Or, a mobile home park where there is one utility bill with owner but garbage is separate? Mobile home parks will be treated as commercial accounts unless they each have their own electric meter, in which case they will be treated as residential units. Necessary adjustments would be worked through during the transaction period to billing garbage on the utility bill to guarantee than inappropriate billing does not occur in a mobile home park and that service is in place. The proposed phase in time period provides ample amount of time to work through these individual issues. 9 How will the city cover costs of residents who do not pay their utility bill? Non paying utility customers will be treated the same as they are now by CWLP for nonpayment of their bill. It is anticipated there will be some administrative costs to guarantee collection but those costs will be covered through the Waste and Recycling fund. Based on the percentage of utility customers, roughly 1.3% who are delinquent, and a basic rate of $13.75, a cost of approximately $85,000 is estimated. It is anticipated the costs will be lower than the estimate because even those paying a portion will be prorated generating some funding to the garbage account. That cost will also be covered by the Office of Public Works through the Waste & Recycling fund. When measured against the cost of outstanding fines and the time and resources of city employees to track violations it is an overall savings to the taxpayer. What if some cannot pay the entire utility bill and are paying a portion a month to catch up? Same as with utility bill the amounts are prorated to the various funds, electric, water, sanitary district, city sanitary fee, and garbage would be added. 10 How will the city track the billing from waste haulers to guarantee they are not double billing? Waste haulers will be required to submit a customer address list with their invoice each month. That list will be matched against the city utility bill database which is used to determine if garbage service is necessary. The Office of Public Works is developing a match system that will instantly produce a list with little staff time to determine any duplicates or non matches. What if one waste hauler provides service for only part of the month? The city will only pay one waste hauler the basic rate for the month per residence. Waste haulers may work with their customers as they do now to accommodate a switch in service. What if I am leaving town for the winter and do not need garbage service? Residential billing will be based on the utility bill. If the utilities are shut off then there will not be a bill. However, if utilities remain on and a resident is billed they are responsible for working with their waste hauler who may discontinue the service and offer a refund to the customer. This approach allows the waste hauler to work with their customers to provide the best servicing of their accounts. What if a home is vacant but the utilities remain on such as when a house is for sale and the owners have moved? The situation would be handled the same as when a resident is out of town for a period of time. The resident should work with their waste hauler to receive a refund if they are not receiving the service. 11 Should we focus on getting more trucks off the street and in the alleys? The infrastructure of the city is in need of much repair. All traffic particularly heavy truck traffic represents a large part of that. However, many residents prefer curbside service and have an interest in that option. Waste haulers that prefer curbside pickup are moving toward technology that will allow for the use of automated equipment that increases productivity and reduces the amount of time the truck spends on its route and the roads collecting waste, recyclables, and landscape waste. Particularly with recycling pick up reducing to two times a month and utilizing large recycling carts would save two trips through the neighborhood. Why don’t waste haulers or residents want to have alley service if they can? With the change in equipment some waste haulers are finding the smaller often unkempt alleys are a challenge to get larger trucks through. Some residents prefer not to take garbage to the alley and feel safer and find it more convenient to take garbage to the street on the pickup day each week. Similar to what is done in the newer areas of the city. We are fortunate in Springfield to have a choice of haulers that will allow either alley service or curbside service. Will this force all garbage to the curb? No, if a waste hauler offers alley service then a customer may continue take advantage of that option in areas where there are alleys. 12 Why doesn’t the city do a better job of maintaining the alley? With limited resources for infrastructure the paving of alleys has been a lower priority than maintaining streets and sidewalks. Maintaining the alley from excessive growth and accumulation of solid waste has traditionally been the homeowner’s responsibility. Over the years the care for many of the city’s alleys has deteriorated and has become a health and safety issue. While the city does take a complaint driven approach to these violations, time and resources are limited. A more aggressive approach is currently under discussion. Why does the city want to set a time on how long garbage can be set out front? To keep the streets cleaner the city is proposing that garbage be placed out no sooner than the evening before and removed by the following evening after the scheduled pick up date. This will help eliminate garbage cans sitting out for days before pick up and days after. Can we put yard waste in the alley? The proposal is for all yard waste to go to the curb as it does for the spring and fall pickups. This will remove any confusion where to place yard waste for residents and establish some consistency in the city. It will also assist in reducing yard sitting in alleys for long periods of times. 13 Why does the city want to amend the refuse collection portion of the code? Why mess with a good thing? The city spends many hours addressing garbage and yard waste issues in neighborhoods when it could be spent addressing more pressing issues. While garbage and yard waste collection issues are priorities they could be managed much more efficiently with some simple guidelines that will still allow for significant customer choice. In the end it is also an issue of holding those who do not comply responsible and providing a convenience to all residents and a cleaner city. What will happen at a duplex where each resident gets a utility bill but the landlord pays for garbage? The basic garbage bill and the waste and recycling fee will be attached to the utility bill. The city will work with residential customers and property owners to appropriately adjust for any unique billing situation during the transition phase. There is nothing that would prohibit the landlord from adjusting their arrangement to account for the charge for their tenants. What if I am a city resident but get Curran Gardner water bill? There are a small number of city residents who would fall in this category. The CWLP billing system has the ability to bill separately for garbage. This is an issue that will be worked through during the transition stage. 14 What if I am a CWLP customer but not a city resident? The Office of Public Works and CWLP have the capability to determine if a resident is city or non city resident. Any non city resident would be removed from the billing list by the Office of Public Works. What has the city been doing with the list of addresses they have been provided? From those we know who does not have service? The usefulness of the lists is limited and the housing division moved away from relying on it as a tool. Even if verified against the list city inspectors still need to call waste haulers to verify service. With limited resources it is simply not feasible for the city to track and follow up with each resident that may not s show up on the list. It is especially challenging when the list is only as current as the day that it is provided. That is why the city must currently rely on a complaint driven approach. Who will the haulers contact to correct my billing issues? The Office of Public Works will be the contact for waste haulers for billing issues and will liaison with CWLP. Who will residents call when they have billing questions? There will be a customer service line established to provide billing information to customers. 15 What are the current rates charged for garbage service? By city ordinance, the maximum rate that can be charged for garbage service is $11.25 for one can and $13.75 for two cans, a separate $3 charge is permitted for carry out containers. Residents with disabilities are exempt from this charge. I have one can why do I have to pay for two? You can still receive the advantage of a one can rate by working with your waste hauler. The overwhelming majority of customers maintain the two can rate. Therefore from a practical standpoint it makes sense to charge on the utility bill for the two can rate. For the minority who take advantage of the one can rate they may still do so but should work with their waste hauler to obtain a discount. What is the charge for yard waste? The current $1.50 sticker price for yard waste was established prior to the 2003 rate increases. A charge of $2 is allowed for waste haulers to pick up without a sticker and bill the customer. Under city ordinance haulers are required to pick up yard waste within 5 days but that policy is often difficult to enforce. What is the waste and recycling fee? The waste and recycling fee is 50 cents per month. By comparison to other communities our size in Illinois, Springfield is considerably lower and has not adjusted for the increase in costs to the fund which are now almost $530,000. 16 What is the recycling fee used for? The fee is to pay for the large item pick up program, recycling bins for the curbside recycling program, recycling promotion, yard waste collection, hazard waste collection, and the support of the waste and recycling community coordinator. How much does the fund generate on an annual basis? $188,700 per year However, the fund at its current level is unable to cover expenses and has to be supplemented by other city sources to meet needs. What should the waste and recycling fund be paying for? The obligations associated with waste and recycling totaled nearly $532,000 in fiscal year 2012. If fully funded the fees should cover the large item pick up, fall and spring leaf collection, purchase of recycling receptacles, the program coordinators salary and benefits, recycling promotion efforts, hazardous waste drop offs, and neighborhood clean ups. To meet those obligations the city has taken resources from other areas and has cut back other services. If not adequately funded it is likely more services will have to be limited. 17 Why does the city need to increase the recycling fee? The funding is not meeting the needs for large item pick up, leaf collection, hazardous waste collection, and support of the waste and recycling promotion and coordination program which costs the city almost $532,000 per year. Additional funding would allow the fund to meet needs without requiring the city’s supplemental appropriation It would allow for the city to consider restoring neighborhood clean ups and to expand efforts to promote recycling and assist with administrative fees associated with waste and recycling collection. How would the city spend the extra revenue from an increase to the waste and recycling fund? Continue the large item pick up program. Fund the yard waste collection for the fall and spring out of this fund. Provide a household hazardous waste collection program Expand recycling education and promotion efforts. Support administrative costs of the waste and recycling programs for the city. What is the allowable size of 1 garbage can? A garbage can must be no smaller than 5 gallons and no larger than 65 gallons. Under the new proposal the Office of Public Works would set can size guidelines with waste haulers, rather than having the size set by city code. Those guidelines would follow the same commonly accepted sizes for garbage cans used today. 18 What items are required for waste haulers to recycle? Most haulers accept #1 through #7 plastic (excluding #6), clear glass, aluminum, tin cans, newspaper and paper. City code will be modified to allow the Office of Public Works to adjust those guidelines from time to time to reflect changes in what materials are recyclable. How does the city monitor where recycling materials are going? Waste haulers are required to provide the name and address of the waste disposal facilities, recycling processing centers, and yard waste disposal facilities. Also, they must provide receipts of drop offs and recycling centers and or end markets. The Office of Public works will work with waste haulers to obtain appropriate recycling data as necessary. What action can the city take if a waste hauler is violating the city waste & recycling code? The primary enforcement mechanisms are through proper licensing fines for ordinance violations. The Office of Public Works is responsible for maintaining and issuing license agreements for all waste haulers within the city of Springfield following both state and city guidelines. 19
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