While no official decisions have been made, the City of Quitman is deliberating on different options regarding garbage pickup.
They are thinking about what will be needed in the future and trying to look at a variety of options to determine the most cost-effective solution.
“Our garbage truck is 12 years old and is starting to become unreliable. We will need to replace it in the next five years, and the current cost for a replacement truck is around $400,000. We do not have that money available,” explained Quitman Mayor Chris Reeves. “We were looking into city issued trash carts that can be mechanically dumped into the truck instead of just picking up the bags out of the trash cans like we currently do. The cost for city issued cans would be around $60,000. If we go with a contractor, the carts would be included in the monthly cost.”
Another thing they are taking into consideration is the qualification and availability to run the truck.
“Our trash truck requires a CDL driver. If the driver is sick or not available, we can’t run the truck,” informed Reeves. “Also, if the truck breaks down, we have to figure out another way to get the trash picked up and to the landfill. This takes street and water employees away from the work that they have to help get the trash picked up. A contractor has multiple trucks and drivers to use.”
They have researched how other municipalities are handling garbage pickup and are looking into seeing if it can be beneficial for Quitman as well. Currently, they are taking bids to see what the difference would be in price for both one-day pickup and the two-day pickup that Quitman residents are accustomed to.
“Out of about 12 cities and towns in our area, Quitman and Pachuta are the only two that I have found that still pick up their own trash. There is a reason for that. It’s cheaper and more efficient to contract it out,” continued Reeves. “Also, we are the only municipality that has two day a week pick-up. There is a reason for that: cost. We are requesting proposals for two day a week and one day a week pick-up to see what the price difference is. The private sector is almost always more efficient at performing a service than a government agency. A contractor can spread his operating costs and profit over several customers to lower the cost for each customer. A city or county can’t do that.”
Overall, the city is discussing different methods of garbage pickup because of price. The price of a new garbage truck is high, fuel costs to run the truck are high, and labor to run the trucks can be both costly and difficult to find when a single driver is sick. If the city wants to use taxpayer money more efficiently, then their options are to possibly save money by contracting garbage pickup or raise garbage rates in order to cover the operating costs and equipment that they need.
They are still receiving proposals and looking into all of their options for now.
