WRITTEN BY FRAN SPIELMAN – CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) has suggested that Chicago follow the lead of nearly every suburb and start charging a monthly fee for garbage collection.
More recently, rookie Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) called it a “matter of fairness,” now that city pickups are ending for more than 1,800 multiunit residential buildings, but continuing for 600,000 households, including single-family homes and all residential units with up to four units.
Four years ago, Inspector General Joe Ferguson estimated that a volume-based, “pay-as-you-throw” garbage collection fee could generate as much as $125 million a year and that Chicago could raise an additional $18 million a year by imposing a blue cart recycling fee.
Emanuel ignored both ideas, apparently concerned it would be viewed as a backdoor property tax increase. But now that aldermen are warming to the idea, so is the mayor, sources said.
There has also been talk of raising revenue by allowing city crews to compete with private scavenger services for the business of collecting trash at multi-unit buildings. read more…..
