CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Mayor Danny Jones says a bill will be introduced at next week’s city council meeting that will seek a $3 a month increase in the city’s garbage collection fee to offset the cost of garbage bags that the city has been giving to residents for free since 1972.
“We haven’t raised the fees on refuse since 2002 and it’s $15 a month. We have to raise it to $18 a month,” Jones said Wednesday on his talk show 580 Live on WCHS Radio.
The garbage and recycling bags cost the city about $400,000 annually, the mayor said.
For years all city residents had to do to get their bags was a specified time stop by underneath the interstate bridge at Pennsylvania Avenue and pick them up. Back in 2013 the city went to a voucher system requiring residents to go to a local retailer. Jones said he wants to return to the old system.
“I mean we saved a few thousand dollars but I’m a customer-based guy,” Jones said. “It was a friendly service.”
Charleston residents currently pay their refuse fee once a month as part of the bill that also includes fees for sewer service and fire protection.
Charleston City Council meets next Monday.