(Photo by Howard Packowitz/WJBC)
By Howard Packowitz and WMBD-TV
BLOOMINGTON – Reducing the cost for solid waste pick-up in Bloomington is one of the most talked-about ways to close a nearly three million dollar shortfall in upcoming budget.
Aldermen Diana Hauman and Jamie Mathy hosted a town hall meeting Tuesday night, the fifth such session in recent weeks, to receive public feedback on the budget process.
City staffers have come up with various options to slash one-point-one million dollars for garbage pick-up. Among the ideas is to collect bulk waste only two times a year.
The city might also create morning and evening shifts for garbage pick-up, instead of all public works employees working a single shift. That way, only half the vehicles would be required to run at the same time, potentially reducing maintenance costs.
The biggest concern among town hall participants was how the city would keep up with brush pick-up, as Alderman Hauman acknowledged to our news partner, WMBD-TV.
“We have a really good service, overall and trash service, and it’s going to be hard to help people understand that we can’t keep doing that at the cost we’re charging now,” said Hauman.
She would like to see the government get out of garbage collection altogether. In a few weeks, the city council will decide whether to fully explore the idea of privatizing solid waste pick-up.
One of the other choices facing Mathy and other aldermen is to impose a soft hiring freeze, in which the city would not fill vacant government jobs.
“What’s the trade off of that? If we don’t refill that position, the other employees in that department are going to have to pick up the slack, or we’re going to have to cut services for that,” Mathy said.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
