Sunday, January 11, 2009
Editorial: Pick up everyone's garbage in Christiansburg
Mandatory collection is overdue
From the RoundTable blog
Read the latest entries
In Christiansburg, garbage collection is optional. If a homeowner does not want to pay the town to pick up his trash once a week, he can take it to the dump himself.
Last year, town council tossed around the idea of making the service mandatory but ultimately chose not to act. As another budget season begins, council is again considering requiring everyone to pay the town for garbage collection. There are several good reasons it should do so.
Council held a public hearing on the idea last week. Predictably, several people spoke against it, and a few supported it.
Currently, about two-thirds of residential water customers -- 5,900 of the town's 8,650 homes -- pay $15 per month for garbage pickup. The fee is rolled into their bimonthly water bills.
The remaining third have a few options. They might take their trash to the dump or pay a private company.
The problem is people who choose a less appropriate means of disposing of their trash. Illegal dumping has not left Christiansburg and surrounding lands knee deep in garbage, but it does occur. At best, that reflects badly on the community, especially in the eyes of visitors; at worst, it poses a health hazard.
Other people take advantage of unlocked commercial dumpsters, transferring the cost onto businesses. Still others burn garbage, which can be dangerous.
The $15 fee does not even cover all of the town's costs. If everyone has to sign up, Christiansburg might break even thanks to better economy of scale.
Part of the savings would come from no longer having to track whose garbage cans belong on the street. When there is doubt, workers on the street must call Town Hall to verify who has paid. Meanwhile, they and their truck idle, wasting time and gas.
With the economy the way it is, no one wants to pay the town $180 more per year, but paying for services is part of living in a town. We are not talking rural residents far out in the country here, but people who choose to live where houses are closer together and where people band together to pay for services like trash removal.
