Daley admin opposes fee rewrite

02/08/2010 7:22 PM

By Micah Maidenberg
Editor

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The Daley Administration and several city council members, including Alds. Fioretti (2nd), Dowell (3rd) and Hairston (5th), are at loggerheads over revising a series of fees the city council levied in 2008 on garbage containers serviced by private trash haulers.
The aldermen say the fees have hit town home owners particularly hard, resulting in per-month costs that are substantially higher than what residents who are able to share larger Dumpsters are required to bear.
Hairston said the city was concentrating too many fees on people living in small buildings and developments along the lakefront.
"This is disproportionately impacting one particular class of citizens," she said this morning at a meeting of the city council's Committee on Finance.
Fioretti, Dowell and Hairston have co-proposed an ordinance that would cut the fee on containers that are less than one cubic yard from $51 annually (or $4.25 per month) to $12 annually (a $1 per month). Many town home owners use these totes, which are similar to those seen in Chicago neighborhoods where garbage is picked up by the Department of Streets and Sanitation.
To make the changes revenue neutral in terms of the city budget, businesses and condos that use garbage containers that are one to two cubic yards in volume would see their fees increase from $96 to $101.01 annually, an amount that multiple residents sharing the receptacle pay equally, spreading the cost.
According to Dowell, some town home developments were designed assuming the smaller totes would be used. That means town home associations can't switch to a larger Dumpster they can share, decreasing the impact of the fee.
But Andrea Gibson, a deputy budget director for the city, said the container fee rewrite would hit too many people.
Around 56,000 containers would see the fee on their one-to-two yard containers rise to $101.01, she said, with around 7,000 container seeing a drop to $12 per year.
"Because of the fee increase embedded in this ordinance, the budget office does not support it at this time," she said.
Gibson's estimate of 56,000 hit by the rise, however, was disputed by Ald. Tom Tunney (44th). He also recommended an audit process to get clarity on the numbers.
John Jacoby, a town home owner in the South Loop and volunteer in Fioretti's office, said equity required the change. Per month costs were simply hitting those who pay $51 per year in fees for their totes unfairly, he said, "where almost everyone else in the city who has a private waste hauler is paying around $1 a month or $12 a year."
No vote was taken this morning.
Ald. Ed Burke, head of the finance committee, ordered another hearing about the issue at the request of Ald. Hairston.


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By Daniel
Posted: 02/10/2010 0:20 AM

Andrea Gibson has to be either the dumbest human being in Chicago or the biggest liar and she needs to be called out in this by the media to present her calculations: 1. Townhome owners are paying 25 times more than condo owners. It is discrimination. 2. The money is going into a slush fund not included in the general budget. 3. The City budget office lied and changed the rate, and is not charging per the ordinance proposed.