Do any of you actually believe that will be the case? Because that’s what they are trying to tell us. Here is a more likely scenario:
The government will pick the lowest bidder and that company will have the choice to operate exclusively in up to two zones, leaving the third zone for one other hauler. That second hauler will be REQUIRED to match the rate of the lowest bidder. They will then be in a 5-7 year contract to serve those zones.
As most of you know, usually a "low-bidder" is dealing with paper-thin profit margins in order to get down to that price. And how does the fact that they will now have no competition encourage better customer service?
Additionally, in order for this low bidder to make his profits, they will have to make sure that they make as few trips to the landfill and the recycling center as possible. So they are going to get the biggest truck they can find and fill it as full as possible before heading out to the landfill. Those massive trucks will carry an additional 4 tons of waste compared to current residential sanitation trucks and that tonnage will be rolling through your neighborhoods on roads that are not made to support that kind of weight. What that means is that your neighborhood roads will need to be repaired much more often that they currently are — all at taxpayer expense.
In addition, if any of you have "extra" services that you pay for with your current local service you will no longer have that choice. As an example, customers that currently pay an additional fee to have their sanitation company come into their yard or garage to collect their waste will no longer be able to do so. In most cases, these customers make this choice because they are too sick or too old or their driveway is too steep or they are physically unable to get their garbage bins to the curb. The government will NOT offer that extra service. Private haulers do offer this service because we know that as for-profit companies, we benefit by providing good customer service.
Another Mandated Government Fee
This new proposal will mean that you, the taxpayer, will get ANOTHER fee added to your monthly bill. This is at a time when the economy is struggling, people are doing the best they can to make ends meet, food prices and fuel costs are rising, homes are being foreclosed and budget cuts are everywhere. Yet our government, that claims they want to help the 26% in this county who are living in poverty, wants to add another MANDATORY fee.
They also claim that this new proposal will reduce prices, but currently the cost for trash pickup from the ACC government is higher than any of the privately owned sanitation companies in the area. It will not be cheaper. In fact, we're pretty sure it will be higher because they will add their "administration fee" on top of whatever rate the low-bidder provides.
