UPDATE: Mayor Emanuel has agreed to limit the city's new trash pickup fee to $9.50-per-month from 2016 through 2019. The four-year limit "would carry alderman and the mayor through the next city election in early 2019," according to The Chicago Tribune.
Many alderman opposed the city's first-ever trash fee and have neglected to support the fee due to concerns that Emanuel would increase it soon after implementation. The fee limit acts as a compromise to gain support from these alderman.
Emanuel has also agreed to place all of the revenue from the fee — projected at $62.7 million annually — into a fund strictly for refuse hauling.
Dive Brief:
- Alderman George Cardenas says that Chicago Mayor Emanuel is working to put a limit on garbage pickup rates, stating that Emanuel will most likely cap the new $9.50-per-month household trash pickup fee.
- The fee-cap is important for city alderman who are worried that Emanuel will hike the monthly fee in upcoming years.
- Cardenas is also working with city officials to create a separate fund to protect money that is collected through a new trash fee. "That way, all the costs of garbage collection would be in one place, and all the money from the monthly fee would go into that fund," The Chicago Tribune reported.
Dive Insight:
Mayor Emanuel has been dealing with major pushback regarding the city's first-ever trash pickup fee, however the fee is necessary for the city to solve a $30 billion pension crisis. Although some have proposed that alternatives, such as a soda tax, could replace the garbage fee, those suggestions lost support as the garbage fee remains the best option.
"We remain committed to respecting Chicago's hardworking taxpayers by delivering quality neighborhood services in the smartest and most efficient manner to hold down their costs," the mayor said in a news release.
In order to save more money and keep garbage collection efficiency high, Chicago partnered with Laborers Union Local 1001 to adjust the city's grid boundaries, which will save the city $7 million and reduce the daily deployment of garbage trucks from 310 to 292.
Aside from the new garbage pickup fees, the mayor's 2016 budget includes a $543 million property tax hike, as well as other fines and tax increases.
