City reviewing yard-waste collection
Residents may have to have second container for yard
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YARD WASTE DISPOSAL
Alternative ways to dispose of yard waste include:
Composting.
Letting grass clippings stay on the yard.
Putting it in the cart with household trash.
Taking it to the compost site at the city landfill.
Kathy Allen doesn't like the idea that she may have to get another roll-out container to dispose of her yard waste
"I don't want a great big cart to put yard waste in and then have to pay $5 a month for it," she said. "I despise the one I have."
Allen said she and her husband have health problems and it's difficult enough to get one container to the curb. Then there's the issue of having a second cart to have to hide from public view.
The city currently manually picks up yard waste for recycling if customers put it in old garbage cans or recyclable bags. But Jerry James, the city's director of Environmental Services, said that service will likely be discontinued next year.
"Nothing is for sure until the budget is done," he said. "But the plan at this point is in January we would discontinue the current yard-waste program."
Only 10 percent of the customers use it on a regular basis and the current solid waste fee of $13.75 a month doesn't cover the cost of operating the solid waste department, James said.
The city has mailed surveys to people who have used the yard-waste service over the past year to determine if there is enough interest to start a new service.
The survey is also available on the city's Web site at victoriatx.org.
Customers would pay $5 a month for a second cart that could be picked up by the automated trucks. "We would be able to reduce cost by quiet a bit by doing the automated service," James said.
The city was considering raising the current monthly garbage collection fee by $3.84 cents a month. Now the city is considering having to increase the fee by only $2.50 a month.
There are no plans to eliminate the brush and bulky-item collection or the Huvar Recycling Center.
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woofwoof,
Maybe I mis-understood your post but are you saying government has no choice but to raise taxes/fees?
In my mind there is a choice, spend less this year then they spent last year. Spend less next year then they spend this year. Until spending is under control there is NO end in sight as to raising taxes/fees.
September 8, 2009 at 5:05 p.m.Taxes are down 165 billion. Next year down 350 billion.
Tax payers please start saving now.
Do you understand?
The state and city have no other options.
September 8, 2009 at 2:28 p.m.My husband took a small dead tree (fit in the back of his pickup) he had cut down this weekend to the brush site this morning,and was charged $5.00 to be able to dump it. Makes no sense. Pickup on the curb is free, but if we take it to them, it costs money. Strange system!!
September 8, 2009 at 12:30 p.m.California sales tax = 7.25%
Victoria sales tax = 8.25%
September 8, 2009 at 7:56 a.m.We've had our trash bins rejected because the neighbors put some yard waste they found blown down from the trees into the can. The "rule" according to the driver, was that only trash can go in the trash can, yard waste has to go somewhere else. So I missed out on having that can collected that week. On the flip side, the current yard waste guy is happy to take however many cans we have on the curb and put them into the truck. I cannot figure out the efficiencies here. Can't have a single can multitask (or risk rejection) but no matter how much time is spent on the yard cans, they are all picked up. Recycling is another deal altogether.
Am I the only one that thinks this is way harder than it has to be?
Woofer: when Texas has an income tax come and complain about your property tax. It all comes out about the same when you crunch the numbers. The difference is in who is collecting. With property tax, the appraisal process is forced down to a lower level. If you have a state income tax, everything will be determined by the functionaries in Austin.
September 8, 2009 at 2:47 a.m."...The city was considering raising the current monthly garbage collection fee by $3.84 cents a month. Now the city is considering having to increase the fee by only $2.50 a month..."
Dear Citizens,
Again, start saving for the next several years tax revenue shortfalls.Like I told you last year. Got it?
CALIFORNIA AVERAGE HOUSE PRICE = $447,000 AND PROPERTY TAX = $ 2250.O
TEXAS AVERAGE HOUSE PRICE = $106,000 AND PROPERTY TAX = $2025.00
Anyone get it?
September 7, 2009 at 8:42 p.m.I thought that the compost site was bagging and selling the compost. So they want us to pay for something they are making money on.
September 7, 2009 at 7:35 p.m.The City has precious few ordinances but it is trying to find a way to make y'all hide y'alls carts from public view???? Wow! My HOA is trying to force this on us but there is no bylaw that states the cart must be kept out of sight, just that we have to dispose of trash into a proper receptacle. So far we are winning that battle.
September 7, 2009 at 7:09 p.m.Your driver is playing y'all for fools & he & his bosses are thumbing their noses at you. I see, every trash pick up day, cans whose lids wouldn't close if an elephant sat on them, carts parked next to cars, other carts, mail boxes, etc..carts with taboo trash inside (since their lids don't close you see lumber, tree limbs, houseold appliances, etc) & every time they are picked up. Never once have I seen a can left behind for a rule violation & I have witnessed the truck pick up an "illegal" can without effort. The City of Victoria must really hate its residents or they're too stupid to figure out the cart can be picked up, even if it is violating a rule, without the truck exploding or the world coming to an end.
September 7, 2009 at 7 p.m.I will/did not vote yes for yard waste.. If they want to charge more that's tough..I am already putting it, and other things in my trash that used to be picked up on a regular basis. You can't tell people that you are doing something so things can be more "efficient" and will most likely lower/level out costs, then raise, raise, raise the price of all services..
September 7, 2009 at 5:56 p.m.I will fill my can to the brim with all that I need to void from my home and they can deal with it. I will doll it out over a period of time so the lid is not as much as a smidgen of an ich open...
We are being misled on so many items now that it is no longer just stupid, but criminal...
It has to stop soon ...RIGHT????
if they stop the yard waste pick up, does that mean we can just dump it in the street? or maybe we can burn it in our backyards? I voted yes I would take an extra cart for yard waste!
September 7, 2009 at 5:34 p.m.I think this group of, well let's just call them folks, have gone plum crazy.. I don't konw what they are doing , but they sure are getting a following of anti-city council people...Raise this, raise that,, cut sevices... enjoy yourself,,you got it good... RIGHT!!!!. Vote 'em out.....
September 7, 2009 at 5:13 p.m.Ok, you are absolutely right mzmizer. Just get a extra can you can put both in, not everyone is going to fill up a can with yard waste every week.
September 7, 2009 at 5:10 p.m.1. Increase taxes, fees, surcharges,and others...
September 7, 2009 at 4:41 p.m.2. Employers decrease hours and workers...
3. New business will not locate to area...
4. Increase in foreclosures and bankruptcies...
5. see #1
legion;
Quote from the letter I received: "We would issue a special colored automated cart that would be picked up each week and taken to the City compost site for recycling. An extra yard waste cart would be available for $5.00 more per month, but there is a two cart limit for each house. If not enough citizens are interested in this service to make it finacially possible, the yard waste pickup service will be discontinued."
Last sentence makes me wonder if the city is wanting to discontinue yard waste pick up all together.
If the city does go to the proposed cart pickup route, one would get more bang for the buck getting an extra household cart (multi-task it) for the same price. Therefore not being limited to what can or can not be put into it.
September 7, 2009 at 4:33 p.m.I don't understand something, if it is going to cost the city less to have automatic solid waste pick-up, why do we have to pay more per month?
September 7, 2009 at 3:57 p.m.Are the carts for yard waste going to be a different color or have a sticker on them? (Those stickers don't last long.)
September 7, 2009 at 3:29 p.m.I doubt it. What the city is saying is that they will not recycle yard waste anymore and charge us to not do it.
After showing DH the letter we got. He said we would be better off getting a 2nd household cart and using them for both household AND yard waste. Otherwise, the yard waste is strickly for just that, yard waste. The $5 a month charge is the same for a 2nd household cart or a yard waste only cart.
September 7, 2009 at 3:21 p.m.Guess I need my carts to multi task too!
If we have a tropical storm or hurricane move through our city, it will be interesting how we will have to deal with the debris.
I believe many of us will just have to learn to cut our yard trimmings up to less than four foot length and store in our back yard. Week by week we will top off the big 90 gallon can and work the pile down week by week. Either that or pay $5 extra a month for a second 90 gallon can, haul it off to the city dump or pay someone, or keep your bar-b-q pit burning after dark.
September 7, 2009 at 2:57 p.m.The old system was much better mom/thursday it seems the city is raising the garbage now and i hear in 2010 or 2011 they are going up on the water bills as well whats next a new tax rate
September 7, 2009 at 9:20 a.m.I got the survey. So they say we are raising my garbage rate by 2.50, but they are doing away with one of the services. I was quite shocked and angry. We're stopping but pay more.Do not like it.And I pay for an extra can now, so I would have 3! No thanks Victoria
September 6, 2009 at 9:04 p.m.