Hartel Recycling Truck

Council considers recycling fee

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Reprinted from the Superior Telegram | by Shelley Nelson

Superior’s City Council is considering creating a new fee to cover the cost of mandatory recycling in the city.

Recycle SymbolIf adopted by the council, the new $3.50 per month fee would go into effect Nov. 1 and would be paid four times a year with the quarterly sewage and storm water bill, said Chris Bronson, assistant finance director for the city. The first bill, which would come in January, would include recycling fees for November and December.

The new fee would be billed to single-family residences and residential properties with 2-4 units. If the fees are not paid, the uncollected balance would be assessed to property taxes. Those billed mirror the city’s recycling contract with Hartel’s/DBJ, which provides recycling collection services in Superior.

The city anticipates collecting about $422,000 if the new fee is created, which covers the cost of the recycling contract in addition to the costs for recycling waste oil and mattress recycling at the landfill, brush and leaf collection twice a year, recycling household hazardous waste at the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District in Duluth and administering the programs. The city has a contract with WLSSD that allows Superior residents to take hazardous waste to the facility on Courtland Street in Duluth.

While creating a garbage fee proved problematic last year for the city council because of legislation that would have required the city to cut its tax levy by the amount collected, recycling was not among the services included in the state legislation, Bronson said. The city would not be required to cut its property tax levy by an amount equal to the revenue collected through the new fee. The finance committee approved creating the new fee last week.

The council considers the ordinance change needed to create the fee at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Room 201 of the Government Center.




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