Evansville utility officials will ask for a smaller increase for trash collection than first planned.

On Tuesday, Harry Lawson, general manager of the Water & Sewer Utility, said the requested increase in trash rates will amount to $1.50 a month, rather than the $3.70 previously proposed.

The City Council will consider the rate increase when it meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday in Room 301 of the Civic Center.

The reason for the change is that the city is no

longer certain it will hire Allied Waste, which recently was bought by Republic Services Inc., to pick up residents' trash.

Utility officials had at one time planned to renegotiate a contract with Allied without soliciting other companies' offers for doing the same work. They had thought state law would allow them to do so, noting that no rule requires that services be bought through a bidding process.

But last Thursday, they discovered bids are in fact necessary when a service is altered substantially. Utility officials are now proposing policy changes that would have two 96-gallon containers distributed to each household that now receives collection services.

One will be reserved for trash and the other for recyclable materials. They will replace the trash cans and 18-gallon bins now used for those purposes.

Rather than collect the containers in alleyways, garbage crews will pick them up at the curbs. Meanwhile, the same crews will lose their responsibility of sorting recyclable materials at the curb. That work will be done by Tri-State Resource Recovery, a nonprofit organization at 1511 Harriet St.

Also to change are the city's polices governing the collection of yard waste. Grass clippings, leaves and similar refuse are now picked up on a different day from trash.

Under the new policy, both will be taken at the same time - and from the same place. One of the 96-gallon containers will suffice for yard waste and trash, city officials say.

The proposed changes have met with much criticism, especially from residents who worry they won't be able to move 96 gallons of trash to the curb.

To address such concerns, officials note that the containers will be on wheels and have a high center of gravity, making them fairly easy to push.

Others think placing the containers in front of houses will make the streets look untidy. Alan Thomas, a North Side resident, questioned the reasons for abandoning the alleys.

"That's what the alleys are there for - for trash collection," he said.

"Now you've got to do something with these containers after the collection. Where are you going to put them?"

Lawson and other officials have said the changes are mainly meant to save money. The new containers can be lifted by mechanical arms attached to garbage trucks, thus reducing the need for collection workers. Making recyclable materials the concern of an independent agency should have the same result.

Despite the plan to solicit bids, Lawson and others still see the need to reduce costs and haven't changed their intention of moving forward with their plan. They just want to see if another company can put it into effect for less.

The collection service now costs the city about $5.3 million a year. That pays to have trash picked up from about 42,000 homes.

Under the current plan, city officials will begin soliciting bids for a new trash contract in November. They hope to have an agreement in place by January.

(c) 2009 Evansville Courier & Press. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.