CLARKSVILLE, IN. (WDRB) – Clarksville residents will soon pay an extra $10 a month for trash-pick up, and many of them are not happy about the increase.
"We are not getting the service that we used to have, "said Joyce Stewart, who has lived in Clarksville since 2019. "I don't see why we're getting an extra charge all of a sudden."
The Clarksville town council approved the new ordinance this week. In addition to trash pick up, the fee, which will be added to residents' sewer bills, will pay for yard waste pickup, tree debris removal, appliance pickup, street sweeping and snow removal.
The fee will be used to help the city keeps up with rising costs. Clarksville Interim Town Manager Glen Adams, however, said the charge may not even be enough.
"This town has absorbed the costs since its inception. It hasn’t charged, and that's unusual for most communities," Adams said. "But we are at a point where we’re absolutely breaking."
Adams said two of the town’s garbage trucks broke down this week from old age. Now, town officials are looking to buy new ones, and they typically cost $350,000.
"I think we have to have 12 to do removal and garbage in the winter," Adams said. "So, we are at a real risk when winter comes that we won’t have enough drivers to both do garbage and clear the roads."
The town also needs more commercial drivers. Clarksville needs 16 drivers to be fully staffed, and currently they have about half of that, Adams said.
Additionally, Indiana's Senate Bill One is changing how much local governments can collect revenue from certain taxes, and Adams said it’s making it harder to afford things.
"I just don’t have any options. If I want to provide a service, I have to charge for it," he said. "We’re hoping this and a couple more things will provide the ease that we’re going to be able to make ends meet for the last six to nine months."
Stewart said the new price is not fair, as she claims the garbage collectors have broken her trash bins.
"Why are they allowed to tear up our property, is basically what they're doing," she said, "and then they're charging more for that. I just don't understand the logic in it."
Stewart said the sanitation workers have broken off her recycling can’s handle, along with its wheels, which she now has to put back on every time trash pick-up comes. She also said the workers tore off the lid on her trash can.
"I understand if you have less help, you're going to be in more of a hurry and you're going to just toss bins," Stewart said. "But when you go and you spend $150 on a bin, you don't want the wheels broken off."
Adams said the town’s garbage trucks have cameras on them, so workers who break bins are held accountable.
He also said that today's trash bins are poorly made, so if workers did break them, it's not intentional.
Clarksville residents buy their own bins, and the town is not responsible for any replacement or warranty, according to the town's website.
The new fee is expected to take effect in two months.
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