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Tarpon to seek bids on trash service

The current hauler's contract ends in September and wasn't extended. A new firm might charge higher rates.

By RICHARD DANIELSON
Published April 21, 2006

TARPON SPRINGS - This town has had the same garbage hauler for years, but that could change soon.

And it might cost more.

Waste Management now provides pickup service in Tarpon Springs, but its five-year contract with the city expires Sept. 30.

City officials couldn't get the existing agreement continued, so they plan to send out a request for proposals from private haulers interested in picking up the city's garbage and recyclables.

Because of the rising cost of fuel and the fact that the city's rates have been locked in for a while, officials wouldn't be surprised to see a price increase.

"We are expecting the bids to come (in) high," city public services director Juan Cruz told city commissioners Tuesday night.

Waste Management now charges $8.06 per month per customer to do curbside garbage pickup twice a week, according to the company's contract with the city. It charges the city $2.82 per month per customer to pick up recyclables and yard waste once a week.

Those rates are below the county average, Cruz said.

City officials also plan to ask haulers to outline the cost of picking up bulky items such as mattresses, some appliances and furniture either twice a year or any time as part of regular curbside collection. Having such pickups done year-round is likely to cost more, Cruz said.

To ensure good customer service, the city wants the winning company to have an assigned customer service representative, an onsite representative for up to the first 120 days of the contract, a system to track complaints and a willingness to pay penalties for poor service.

In addition to cost, the city will consider bidders' financial stability, references from other municipalities, equipment and the proximity of each bidder's base of operations to Tarpon Springs.

The existing contract and a city ordinance ban private haulers from picking up refuse in Tarpon Springs without city approval.

That's aimed at, among other things, ensuring that the city's designated hauler has a stable base of customers. That assurance, in turn, saves money for rate payers in the long run, officials say.

But under a new contract that "exclusive right" could be limited when residents need to dispose of bulk items. As proposed, the city wants residents to have the option to hire their own hauler for nonputrescible - or nonsmelly - solid waste when the total volume of the pickup is less than 10 cubic yards.

One resident urged city officials to police the rates that can be charged for nongarbage pickups.

Tod Eckhouse said he needed more than a dozen 20-yard containers of debris hauled away from a house he was renovating on S Spring Boulevard. He first hired a hauler from Pasco County to provide those containers, but later switched to Waste Management after being told he had to use that company.

It cost a lot more, he said.

"It was unbelievable what I was being charged," said Eckhouse, 59, who is in the real estate business. The Pasco hauler had charged him less than $300 per container, he said. By comparison, Waste Management's charge was "several hundreds of dollars" per container and varied depending on the weight of what he discarded. Altogether, he estimated that getting rid of the debris cost somewhere between $7,500 and $10,000.

Eckhouse said he didn't mind one company getting an exclusive right to pick up in the city, but when it comes to rates, "keep them competitive," he said.

"I just think when they give an exclusive to a company for that type of a service, it's too easy to not make an effort to be competitive on these things," he said.

City officials anticipate sending out requests for proposals this month, reviewing bids in May and June, making a recommendation to the City Commission in June and awarding a contract in July.

Richard Danielson can be reached at Danielson@sptimes.com or 727 445-4152.

[Last modified April 21, 2006, 01:43:05]