Customer Advisory 2007-5: New Non-Commercial Brush Disposal Fee

I got up early Saturday and, with my grandsons Trey and Austin, loaded the last of the brush from the ice storm that remained in my daughter's back yard in my son's pickup truck and went to the leaf dump to dump it. I remember reading a letter to the editor about the new fee, but had forgotten about it until I pulled into the brush lot. Luckily I had $3.00 in my wallet.....that was all I had, $3.00 and the brush lot doesn't take credit or debit cards.

The young man working the gate listened to my beef and gave me the following:

On June 4, 2007 the City of Springfield enacted City Ordinance #5682 establishing a $3.00 per vehicle service fee for the disposal of non-cmmercial brush at the City's Yardwaste Recycling Center (YCR). This fee will become effective on July 1, 2007. The City will continue to accept leaves, grass and other yardwaste athe YRC at no charge. Current commercial fees for brush disposal at the YRC will remain unchanged.

Since 1992 brush disposal at the YRC has been free to all non-commercial residental customers. Since 1995 commercial YRC customers pay brush disposal fees ranging from $10 to $30 per load depending on the type and sixe of the vehicle.

In 2006, the YRC brush lot received 43,500 loads of brush from residents, businesses and contractors from throughout the Springfield metro area. Over 85 percent of these loads were from non-commercial residental customers.

The annual operating costs of the YRC brush lot are over $170,000 per year. However, commercial brush disposal fees and public donations met less than 15 percent of these annual costs. The remaining 85 percent of these annual costs are born only by customers who use the City's Sanitary Landfill for their solid waste disposal. The landfill receives less than 25 percent of the total solid waster generated in the metro area. Recognizing the long-term financial requirements of the landfill and to insure the continued operation of the brush disposal site at the YRCX, now make it necessary to linti this brush disposal subsidy by enacting this new fee.

Equally important, by adding the proposed non-commercial brush disposal fee, all residental and commercial customers who directly benefit from this City service will contribute to its on-going operations and improvement. The fees paid by customers of the brush operation will meet over 80 percent of the brush lot's direct annual cost in 2008. By 2010, it is anticipated that these service fees and associated product revenues will make the YRC brush lot a self-supporting public enterprise.

If you have any questions or concerns about this request, please feel free to contact me at 417-864-2001.

Sincerely,

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT DIVISION
Thomas F. O'Neill
Superintendent

43,500 loads of brush? Who did the counting? I don't ever remember seeing a counter out there except maybe once when the guy told me the stuff I was dumping was too long and I had to cut it shorter.

Less than 25% of our trash goes to the landfill? Where does the rest of it go? Kansas?

Equally important,..., all residental and commercial customers who directly benefit from this City service will contribute to its on-going operations and improvement. Using this logic: I don't go downtown, why am I paying for it? I don't have kids in school, why am I paying school taxes? I don't go to parks, why am I paying park taxes? I don't frequent the square, why am I paying for it?.....et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.