If you live in the City of Houston, the person in charge of collecting your garbage and recycling says he knows the recycling service is substandard.
Mark Wilfalk, Director of the city’s Solid Waste Department, believes a fee system would help “right size” the department.
Wilfalk said there are simply not enough people or even positions currently available to get the job done on time.
“You said something that’s interesting. You said even if you—in terms of size of the department, you know—you had every chair filled, every position filled, every driver you need, you still wouldn’t be able to manage the workload?” KPRC2 Investigative Reporter, Joel Eisenbaum, said.
“Exactly. In other words, it still wouldn’t be on time. There would be some areas, maybe 20 to 30 percent, that would still experience delayed service for recycling, and that’s why we’re putting a plan together to right-size the department,” Wilfalk, said.
The plan put forth will most likely include a monthly fee schedule. Wilfalk said that he had hired a third-party consultant to help craft a workable proposed fee.
The addition of a fee that didn’t previously exist would most likely require city council sign-off.
Wilfalk said that he wants to make the department more self-sufficient in terms of revenue. In order to generate more revenue, he is also looking at providing service to more commercial customers, including apartment complexes.
Wilfalk repeatedly declined to put a dollar figure on the “fee idea,” but many—if not most—big cities incorporate such a fee.
Wilfalk envisioned that it might be included on your water bill.
The city of Dallas not only charges a fee, but late last year decided to raise that fee to $37.98 a month for homeowners. That equates to $455.76 annually.
The Mayor’s Response Regarding a New Garbage & Recycling Fee:
“Mayor Whitmire agrees the City of Houston SWMD needs to provide reliable service to Houstonians. On the issue of additional money, several Houstonians and officials have asked for consideration of a plan. It is a developing issue that has been discussed, but there are no immediate plans,” Mary Benton, Director of Communications for Mayor John Whitmire, said.