As it stands right now, if you're a City of Batavia resident, you have no idea who will pick up your garbage come April 1.
Monday night, the city council rejected, on a 2-7 vote, a change in the trash ordinance that, by their own admission, they asked city staff to draft. And with the Genesee ARC contract expiring March 31, it will take some quick work to come up with a new trash plan.
The clear direction from the council members after the 2-7 vote: get the city out of the trash business.
That means a municipal contract with Genesee ARC, after 28 years, will not be renewed and each property owner or resident will be free to select any trash collection vendor.
Councilman Jim Russell said that while council members heard from Genesee ARC supporters, they also heard from a lot of people who liked the proposed changes to trash collection in the city. But more, he said, they heard from people who said the city shouldn't be involved in trash collection at all.
"The City of Batavia or any government entity doesn’t belong in business if they don’t have to be," Russell said. "We have a lot of work to do. But if we can make this happen, people will have the choice they asked for."
Donna Saskowski, executive director of Genesee ARC, said after the decision that her agency is ready to provide trash service to city residents on a contract basis if the council fashions a plan that allows ARC to fulfill its primary mission: Employ people with disabilities.
"I think there needs to be some resolution and some more equitable way to charge people for trash and recycling," Saskowski said.
ARC is has always been ready to provide a rate-based service, she said.
"We never had that discussion," Saskowski said. "They never discussed that with me. We never knew about the rates. I think that’s something that’s really up to the council. We’re ready to provide a service. We’ll see what happens."
Saskowski indicated, however, there's still a chance Genesee ARC could get a sole-source contract with the city.
"I still think preferred-source vendor discussion should still be on the table," Saskowski said. "I don't think the city administration agrees with me, but I think it should.
"I was always willing to work ith the city before and I'm willing to work with them now."
The two votes in favor of the new trash plan came from Pierluigi Cipollone and Rose Mary Christian.
Cipollone pointed out that the proposal before the council was what members asked city staff to draft and by the direction of council, it reduces property taxes.
"If we're trying to be a fisically responsible council, this is something we need to do," Cipollone said.
After the decision was made, Cipollone warned that the council was about to embark on a plan that would cost city residents a lot more money.
"The people of Batavia will be spending more now on an individual basis than they would have from any of the offers on the table," Cipollone said.
Molino said he accepted the council's decision to change directions at the 11th hour.
"We did what we were asked in putting together budget, but sometimes things take turns we can’t predict," Molino said. "That happened this time, so now we respond to it."
At a Wednesday evening meeting, city staff will present a plan to the council that will keep trash out of the city budget -- meaning the 16-percent tax cut is retained -- and prepares the city for conversion to a self-selected, private-hauler solution.
Between now and Wednesday city staff will need to figure out the logistics of ensuring all city residents are ready to contract for their own trash collection by April 1, or find out if it's possible to extend Genesee ARC's contract for some period of time, buying more time for the conversion to a private-hauler system.
My question that needs answering by those who voted for the city to get out of the trash business is what is going to be done to prevent those who are too lazy or uninformed to obtain trash service from a vendor when they start dumping their trash in business receptacles or on private lawns around the city? I personally have no idea who to contact to get trash picked up and I can assure you 75% of city residents don't know either. ARC is not going to contract with people on an individual basis. Doesn't make sense. It's like health care. If you obtain health care insurance from your employer, you get a reduced contracted rate with whoever the provider is. If you go out and try to buy insurance as just an individual, then your rate can be as much as 45% higher than a contracted group rate.
The city should have kept it a line item on city taxes. This started off as an "easy" way to drop the tax burden and ended up being twisted into a government vs. individual rights issue. Hogwash. There are better ways to drop the tax burden on city residents and we wouldn't have to worry about who is going to dump trash in front of my house at night. Share some or more of the sales tax revenue the Town enjoys with the city is a good start. After all aren't those businesses using city services like water and sewer? That's a harder issue to persue. Our city taxes are not that bad when you start to look at other counties across NYS. I know because I see the data every tax cycle. Did anyone actually look at the proposed city budget posted on the city's website? There is a ton of fluff in there not associated with trash pickup. Take a look at police and fire salaries and how much was spent on salt last year. Are we getting our monies worth is the question we should be asking on each item. I believe we were as far as trash collection goes.