Garbage companies ask to raise rates & make changes to trash rules - WAND

Garbage companies ask to raise rates & make changes to trash rules | Top Stories | wandtv.com

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — Garbage companies in Decatur are asking the city to charge their customers more. Haulers want to charge $4.50 more per month. A single family home would see their bill increase to $23.50 per month. If approved, this would now include the cost of a trashcan rental.

But customers packed the city council chambers Thursday night to share their frustrations with the waste haulers who work in the city.

"Waste management has been the worst garbage hauler we have ever had," one public commenter shared.

"I don't want to bash anybody, but they are horrible," another added.

"In the past I've been hung up on 3 or 4 times before I'm exhausted and I give up," yet another public commenter told city staff.

The city reports it receives complaints almost daily from Waste Management and GFL customers. The calls range from trash being left in the street, to poor customer service, to missed pick-ups.

"I had to literally take my garbage out there to them and dump it on off in front of their door. I had no more cans empty to even fill up," Sherry Evans, a Decatur resident, told WAND News.

Evans said, with other bills going up, she doesn't want to pay more while also dealing with service issues.

"We got a utility bill that went up, water rates that went up — now they're talking about garbage," Evans said.

But waste haulers said they're also feeling the strain of rising prices.

"While you may have seen 8-9% inflation in your home, our industry has seen 22-24% inflation," Eric Shangraw, GFL's Government and Contracts Manager for central Illinois, told the public hearing moderator.

GFL and Waste Management representatives said it's more expensive to buy garbage trucks and parts. They also said diesel fuel is up from $2.23 a gallon in 2018 — the last time a rate increase was approved — to $4.45 this month.

"The cost of diesel fuel going up, all the lubricants and many of the components of the garbage truck have gone up substantially, increasing the cost of a new garbage truck," Shangraw explained.

But customers said they're having to absorb those costs at home, and garbage companies should too.

"We're all living through the gas prices, and when you chose to run a business, those are the expectations," a public commenter shared.

Decatur City Council will receive a report from the moderator, and will have 45 days to vote on the rate increase.

But the council is also considering changes to garbage rules. Proposals include, requiring all customers to use either a 64-gallon or 95-gallon cart, moving trash pick-up from alleys and revoking a waste haulers' license if there are too many complaints in one neighborhood. You can read all the proposed changes here.

WAND News will continue following this developing story and bring you the council vote when it happens.

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