From the Terre Haute Tribune-Star:
City residents may be facing an approximately $9 per month fee for trash removal to help the city balance its sagging general fund.
Mayor Duke Bennett, in a more-than two-hour public hearing with members of the City Council, said the city would need to charge its approximately 23,000 households around $9.25 per month to cover the city’s annual trash collection contract with Republic Services. That contract will cost the city about $2.6 million this year, city officials have said.
The alternative would involve cutting about $2.5 million from the city’s budget, meaning laying off about 35 to 40 city workers, Bennett said. The city of Terre Haute employs more than 500 people presently.
No formal proposal for a fee has been put forward and such a fee would require City Council approval before taking effect.
A trash collection fee is just one of several ideas proposed to help the city meet a growing annual deficit in its critical “general fund,” which covers many day-to-day expenses for the city. According to figures presented during Monday night’s hearing in City Hall, if no action is taken, the general fund balance would be more than $7 million in the red at the end of this year.
However, city officials and consultants also unveiled several other sources of money to help bring the general fund into balance during Monday night’s meeting. Those sources include $3.5 million from the city’s “rainy day” fund, $2 million from the city’s Economic Development Income Tax fund, $1 million from the sale of city property and “payments in lieu of taxes” to the city from the wastewater treatment plant. If those transfers are made — even without a trash fee — there would be a positive general fund balance at the end of this year, said Leslie Ellis, city controller.
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The City Council is expected to vote on a 2013 budget at a special meeting at 6 p.m. Monday in City Hall.
http://tribstar.com/local/x699460649/Residents-could-face-9-a-month-trash-fee
