Mailbag: Garbage bags in EGF, taxes in GF
Hallelujah! With so few comments on my blog, I was wondering if more than a handful of people are reading. So I was pleasantly surprised by two questions that came in my inbox.
The first one comes from Julie in East Grand Forks who asked:
Julie, I left a message at the streets and sanitation department but it was late in the day and no one was available. I'll post more when I hear back from those guys.
My understanding, though, is the per bag charge reflects the true cost of garbage disposal. The more you throw away, the more you pay.
There are two main costs of garbage disposal. The first is the cost of collecting the garbage and taking it to the dump. Eastside residents pay that with the flat fee of $6.25 a month. Then there is the cost of using the dump, which is called a tipping fee. The city of Grand Forks currently charge $33.50 a ton. To reflect that cost accurately, the city of East Grand Forks charges its residents 65 cents for a small bag and $1.30 for a big bag.
Grand Forks residents pay a flat fee of $11.50 a month, about half of which pays for the tipping fee.
Update 12:36 p.m., 5/3/06: John Thompson, East Grand Forks streets and sanitation superintendent, called this morning. He said that the state requires the city to require residents to pay by the weight or by the volume. One reason for this is to encourage recycling. Recycle more, pay less.
My understanding is that Minnesota has more stringent laws on landfills so this is one way to keep the landfills they have from filling up. I've heard Grand Forks city officials talk about how Minnesota still must export a lot of its garbage to surrounding states.
The other part of Julie's question has to do with the cans and the trucks that pick up the cans with a mechanical arm. Thompson said that would be costly and that "garbage tends to fill the container used to hold it." Which would defeat the purpose of encouraging recycling.
P.M. in Grand Forks wrote:
P.M., you're right on both counts. You would use the 2006 valuation in the calculations. This would be for the year.
By the way, the current tax rate for city residents is 491.83 mills. Of this, 47 percent goes to the school district, 24 percent to the city, 20 percent to the county, 9 percent to the park district and less than 1 percent to the state medical center, Garrison Diversion District and Eastern Soil Conservation District.
Anyone in Grand Forks County can check where their property taxes are going. Visit the county Web site and click on "Search for Property Information." Enter your address and scroll down until you see a pie chart like the one above. I know this sort of public info is appalling to some people, but I'm glad government is so open. Don't forget, you can check the properties of public officials, too.
The first one comes from Julie in East Grand Forks who asked:
Why is it that East Grand Forks charges us to use the beloved "yellow garbage bags" and doesn't have the garbage cans the garbage truck picks up with an arm and dumps into the truck like in Grand Forks? Are there any plans to do this?
Julie, I left a message at the streets and sanitation department but it was late in the day and no one was available. I'll post more when I hear back from those guys.
My understanding, though, is the per bag charge reflects the true cost of garbage disposal. The more you throw away, the more you pay.
There are two main costs of garbage disposal. The first is the cost of collecting the garbage and taking it to the dump. Eastside residents pay that with the flat fee of $6.25 a month. Then there is the cost of using the dump, which is called a tipping fee. The city of Grand Forks currently charge $33.50 a ton. To reflect that cost accurately, the city of East Grand Forks charges its residents 65 cents for a small bag and $1.30 for a big bag.
Grand Forks residents pay a flat fee of $11.50 a month, about half of which pays for the tipping fee.
Update 12:36 p.m., 5/3/06: John Thompson, East Grand Forks streets and sanitation superintendent, called this morning. He said that the state requires the city to require residents to pay by the weight or by the volume. One reason for this is to encourage recycling. Recycle more, pay less.
My understanding is that Minnesota has more stringent laws on landfills so this is one way to keep the landfills they have from filling up. I've heard Grand Forks city officials talk about how Minnesota still must export a lot of its garbage to surrounding states.
The other part of Julie's question has to do with the cans and the trucks that pick up the cans with a mechanical arm. Thompson said that would be costly and that "garbage tends to fill the container used to hold it." Which would defeat the purpose of encouraging recycling.
P.M. in Grand Forks wrote:
Regarding the proposed property tax cuts (in Grand Forks), I'm assuming one takes the valuation that was just received in the mail for 2006? Also, once you have done the computation, is the resulting figure for the "year" or on a "monthly" basis? My guess is that it would be for the year.
P.M., you're right on both counts. You would use the 2006 valuation in the calculations. This would be for the year.
By the way, the current tax rate for city residents is 491.83 mills. Of this, 47 percent goes to the school district, 24 percent to the city, 20 percent to the county, 9 percent to the park district and less than 1 percent to the state medical center, Garrison Diversion District and Eastern Soil Conservation District.
Anyone in Grand Forks County can check where their property taxes are going. Visit the county Web site and click on "Search for Property Information." Enter your address and scroll down until you see a pie chart like the one above. I know this sort of public info is appalling to some people, but I'm glad government is so open. Don't forget, you can check the properties of public officials, too.
posted by Tu-Uyen at 4:27 PM
2 Comments:
I did not know that EGF had a different garbage collection system. Interesting. Something that bothers me about GF garbage is the recycling. I know we don't have to seperate anymore so why do people still use those horrible bins? You set your stuff outside, unprotected on a windy day, and three hours later the bins are still there but half your recycling is swirling on the streets. What would the cost be to provide all recyclers with a seperate covered trash can in a different color?
Grand Forks officials keep saying that garbage costs will be going up. The East Grand Forks system makes sense.
If prices go up, but my volume goes down, shouldn't my costs remain relatively unchanged?
If we had a pay as you throw plan like EGF, citizens would have a reason to minimize what's thrown away.
It would also probably be much better for those who are on a fixed income. They probably generate much less garbage than average.
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