43
Youngstown wants to limit the amount of garbage a customer can put curbside without charging an additional fee
YOUNGSTOWN
With the city distributing new garbage receptacles next month to its 22,000 residential customers, it is seeking approval from council on collection rules and additional fees.
The city’s policy doesn’t have a limit on the amount of garbage its customers are permitted to put curbside.
The administration is asking city council to approve legislation Wednesday limiting residential customers to what fits in the 96-gallon receptacles and up to two bulk items such as stoves, water tanks, washing machines, appliances, furniture and bags not exceeding 35 pounds, according to the proposed ordinance.
A separate ordinance would assess a $10 fee on customers’ water bills for exceeding the limit by four extra items, said Abigail Beniston, the city’s code-enforcement and blight-remediation superintendent.
Those exceeding the limit by five or more items would have $200 added to their water bills, she said.
“It’s a fee for landlords who clean out homes and put large items by the curb to be picked up with the garbage,” Beniston said.
Also, residents can purchase an extra receptacle for $50 and can fill that bin and the one given to them by the city along with two bulk items without being charged an additional fee.
The city started its own residential garbage-collection program May 2 after seeing the proposed cost of continuing to use a private hauler jump from $2.3 million a year to $3 million.
The city is paying $2.4 million for its in-house service this year, and expects that to drop to $2.2 million after new trucks are on the road and the new garbage bins are distributed to its 22,000 customers next month.
Also on council’s agenda for Wednesday’s meeting is legislation to repeal and replace its ordinance on securing vacant structures.
The existing law requires the city to wait up to 30 days and give notice to a property owner before it can board up the doors and windows of vacant structures, Beniston said.
The proposed change would give the city the authority to board up the structures “immediately to safeguard against dangerous and hazardous situations,” Beniston said.
Council also will consider a proposal to borrow $9.76 million, the amount of money it still owes in principal for its Covelli Centre. The city borrowed $11.9 million in 2005 to pay its portion of building the $45 million facility.
The city didn’t pay anything toward the $11.9 million principal until 2010, and has since increased its principal payment annually. Its payment this year was $500,000.
The city will borrow the money in September, and the interest rate isn’t yet known, said Finance Director David Bozanich. It should be about 1.5 percent this year, he said. That’s the amount it was last year.