Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Garbage woes attract attention

Commissioners may vote to help Lealman residents with a better, possibly cheaper unified approach to trash pickup.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published November 20, 2005

LEALMAN - Perhaps the first wish of activists who want to clean up this unincorporated area was unified garbage service.

Now, they may be a little more than a year away from seeing that dream come true.

The Pinellas County Commission is scheduled to vote to form a special taxing district to pay for the service. The vote, planned for the commission's Dec. 6 meeting, will be the first formal step in accomplishing the goal.

"I'm real glad to see it coming," Lealman resident Bob Shaffer said Thursday. "I'm real thrilled about it."

With no unified garbage service in the unincorporated area, the problems in Lealman have mounted. Some residents have service. Others do not.

Those who do not are supposed to take their trash and debris to a county dump site. But not everyone does. Some pile their garbage in alleyways. Others leave it in their yards. Still others leave it on the street hoping it will just disappear.

Shaffer said it is not uncommon to see trash and other debris sitting next to the street in his neighborhood for "three, four, five weeks" at a time. Chairs, couches and other household leavings sometimes sit in yards for months.

But even the Lealman residents who hire a private garbage service have problems. Because the contracts are one on one, the prices vary widely, ranging from about $65 quarterly to more than $90. Neighbors may pay drastically different amounts for the same garbage pickup service. Not only is the pricing uneven, it's more than residents of adjoining cities pay. Governments in cities such as Pinellas Park negotiate a contract with one hauler, which sets a uniform price.

Garbage trucks from various companies lumber down neighborhood streets at various times during the week because there is no set time to serve the entire neighborhood. That means garbage cans can be seen almost every day in some areas.

At first, the Lealman Community Association tried negotiating with garbage companies for better rates. When companies refused to negotiate, LCA members and other area activists urged the county to do something.

A little more than two years ago, county officials proposed setting up a Municipal Services Benefit Unit, or an annual assessment, to pay for the service.

Lealman property owners would pay an annual fee for garbage service after county officials negotiate a contract with a garbage company. The fee would show up as a line item on people's property tax bills each year.

But before that could be done, state law required the county to give garbage haulers three years' notice of their intent to bid out the service. The County Commission voted that notification in late November or early December 2003.

Now that two of the three years have passed, the commission will take the first formal step to changing the system.

The Dec. 6 vote could establish the garbage pickup fee. Another vote in late January would empower the tax assessor to collect the fees. Almost immediately after that, the county will advertise for bids. A contract could be signed in March or April.

The earliest service could begin is January 2007, to give the three-year notification time to run, said Frank Bowman, a county development official in charge of revitalization in the Lealman area.

If the county or the community does not like the prices submitted by the garbage companies who want the contract, Bowman said the county can decide to forgo the idea and leave matters as they are.

But it is unlikely that will happen, he said, because a garbage consultant hired by the county has indicated the prices will likely be less than the lowest amount currently being paid by Lealman consumers. If that's true, the charge would be less than $20 a month, Bowman said.

That would mean a savings for those who have garbage service in Lealman, but would cost those who currently have none. It's those people, Bowman said, who have called to object to the proposal.

Others who have objected are on small, fixed incomes and fear they cannot come up with a year's payment at one time. But Bowman said the county is prepared to take quarterly payments.

Lealman residents who already have service are the biggest supporters because they see not only a savings but a much improved community appearance, Bowman said.

And it's not only those people who support the idea. The county receives calls from others in the unincorporated county, especially those north of Ulmerton Road, who also want the service.

Officials are waiting to see how the idea works in Lealman. If it does well there, Bowman said it could become countywide for all of unincorporated Pinellas.

[Last modified November 20, 2005, 00:54:20]