It's official: Gadsden's garbage collection fee rising to $20 monthly on April 1
Beginning April 1, Gadsden residents will pay more to get their garbage collected after the City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a rate hike sought by city officials.
The cost will rise by 53.8%, from $13 to $20 a month, billed in quarterly installments of $60. (People whose only income is Social Security and/or disability can file for annual exemptions.)
The increase, the first in two decades, also was delivered with a clear message: It’s not about making money.
“There’s a perception that we’re going up just to go up," said Tena King, who as director of city services oversees the public works department. “That is not true. There is a need.”
King in presenting the increase during last week’s pre-council meeting, and again on Tuesday, cited higher expenses for fuel and labor — “No one wants to work for what they used to work for,” she observed — as the major reasons for that need.
She also pointed out that even though the garbage is transported to the city’s own landfill, wear and tear on that property and the need to expand the landfill has to be considered.
“We don’t need to go deeper in the hole,” she said.
King said Gadsden also isn’t following the lead of Etowah County and municipalities like Hokes Bluff, Rainbow City and Southside, which have raised their garbage collection fees in the last year.
“We are going up because there’s a need to increase the fee to cover the costs of the service provided,” she added.
Council member Jason Wilson compared the situation to the United States Postal Service, which by statute is supposed to be a revenue-neutral rather than a for-profit operation.
“It’s kind of like when people say the Postal Service lost money last year,” Wilson said. “Well, the Postal Service is a service. It’s not a business. It’s not designed to make money. It’s the same thing with garbage.
“Garbage is not a net positive for the operation of the City of Gadsden,” he said. “We lose money providing garbage service, so it’s not like the city is making resources off this. At best we’re trying to cover the cost of providing garbage service to the community.”
And when the cost to do that increases, Wilson said, it’s inevitably passed on to city residents.
He said it’s also not a way to recoup delinquent garbage fees, which have been a perpetual problem for the city (totaling $750,000 from 2019 to 2022).
Wilson and King noted that Gadsden’s garbage fee also includes weekly debris pickup, something other municipalities in the area charge extra for.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Gadsden approves first garbage collection rate hike in two decades
