Saturday, February 09, 2008

New state law offered up to stop trash districts

South County legislators are attempting to stop the county's trash districting plan. State Rep. Jim Lembke (R-Lemay), filed a bill recently that, if approved, could end St. Louis County's trash districting program. Lembke, fellow Republican state Rep. Walt Bivins (R-Mehlville), and St. Louis County Councilman John Campisi (R-South County), recently called on all elected officials to join forces to force county government to stop the trash districting for unincorporated areas of St. Louis County.

Hello? It was the members of the County Council who enacted the law and it's the County Council members who can change or stop the legislation. While it's a noble effort on the part of State officials, the full responsibility rests on seven council members. It now seems as if we are pitting state officials against county officials.

The plan has seen opposition throughout South St. Louis County and has led to an initiative petition by an Affton-based group called Make Your Opinion Count. The group wants a ballot proposal on the April ballot for county residents to decide on the trash districting plan.

A related group, Citizens Against Trashy Government, has been trying to challenge a recent St. Louis County court decision that clears the way for construction of a trash transfer station in Oakville.

"We've encouraged all elected officials to come out publicly and support the initiative petition that's been put forth by the people," Lembke said. Rep. Lembke and his associates should be targeting the seven members of the countil. It now seems as if we are pitting state officials against county officials.

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"Some people have short memories, but this whole thing was voted on by the Republican-controlled county council a year ago, and now all of a sudden they don't remember whether they voted on it." - - - Pat Yaeger (D-Lemay)

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Yaeger said she has met with county officials about the districting program and even though she thinks it will bring lower prices, increase recycling and reduce trash truck traffic in neighborhoods, she thinks if the county had handled the issue better they would have gotten more support from the residents. (Amen)

"The trash monopoly plan will make higher taxes inevitable at a time when County Executive (Charlie) Dooley had been seeking a tax hike," Council member John Campisi said. "Estimates for the first year alone are as high as $400,000 to implement this program. It certainly will not become more affordable over time. Given the level of public opposition the county will have to establish a sizable trash police bureaucracy just to enforce it and to handle citizen complaints."

The amount of money being poured into this program far exceed $400,000. The county has spent countless man-hours involved with the program. This cost is buried within the county budget coming under "salaries." No matter how you look at it, time is money.

Sombody, somewhere is paying for the 100,000 recycle bins soon being delivered by the county. At a cost of $40 per bin, this equals $4,000,000 (Four Million).

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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:56 AM

    The only thing or effort that is going to work to stop this Districting, is for voters to overwhelm the County Council with emials, phone calls or letters.
    The action started with the Republican majority, and now is being pushed by the Democrats in control. Failure to overwhelm them to stop, will lead to implementation and enforcement. THIS IS THE LAST CHANCE!

    Hit them hard.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7:17 PM

    The somebody, somewhere that is footing the 4 million dollars for these carts is the St. Louis County tax payer!
    Back in 1990 the people (of St. Louis County) voted for what is known as "Solid Waste Fees".
    There are actually two taxes - one goes to the State and the other goes to St. Louis County.
    These are charged to the hauler by the landfill, which inturn means that the hauler has these in his/her price!
    In 2005 these two taxes together totalled $3.22. This charge is per ton, NOT per load.
    Example:
    Based on 5 tons per day = $16.10
    Based on 5 tons per day for 5 days= $80.50
    Based on 5 tons per day for 20 days = $322.00
    These are ONLY the taxes, this does not include the tipping fee or the fuel surcharge.
    Some days the load could weigh more and other days it could weigh less but not by much!

    ReplyDelete