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$27 hike in garbage fee okayed

By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published October 5, 2006

TAMPA - A decadelong streak of minimal increase in rates for garbage pickup in unincorporated Hillsborough County will end in 2008.

County commissioners voted Wednesday on a plan to expand and improve services for solid waste collection and disposal that will cost residential property owners an extra $27 per year.

Homeowners in unincorporated Hillsborough currently pay $170.59 a year for solid waste pickup and disposal - a fee that is charged on the property tax bill. The fee increases to $197.79 per household in 2008.

Commissioner Brian Blair cast the lone dissenting vote, saying that board members recently trimmed the millage rate to lower property taxes and were now causing the tax bill to rise again.

"This is just another fee that hits the same wallet," Blair said.

Mike Merrill, Hillsborough's debt management director, said that unincorporated residents pay far less for solid waste services than Plant City, Temple Terrace or Tampa, where the annual fee is $333. Tampa provides its own services, while the county contracts with haulers to pick up garbage.

Barry Boldissar, the county's solid waste management director, said the fee increase may not be needed after the department's debt is restructured in the coming years. Commissioner Ronda Storms asked that any savings be passed along to the public.

In other commission news:

- Commissioners voted 4-1 to reimburse Storms for attorneys fees she incurred during a state Ethics Commission inquiry. Storms was cleared of wrongdoing in the case brought by activist Marilyn Smith, who argued that Storms broke the law by trying to keep a Valrico bikini bar from opening.

Amid the allegations, Smith said Storms violated the county charter by asking a building official to delay a certificate of occupancy for the bar.

State law allows elected officials and county employees to be reimbursed for legal fees after being cleared of an ethics violation charge, if the County Commission finds that it happened while trying to serve a public purpose. Commissioner Kathy Castor voted no on the reimbursement, and Storms abstained. She will receive $8,798.75.

- Commissioner Thomas Scott has spent the past year heading an affordable housing task force, and this week the county announced that it hired a director to take on the charge full time.

Howard "Howie" Carroll starts work as the county's first affordable housing officer on Nov. 6.

Picking a leader to oversee affordable housing issues had been a priority of the task force, which presented a 96-page report to commissioners on Wednesday. The report outlined ways to establish affordable housing.

Carroll worked as assistant housing director for Clearwater since 2002.

[Last modified October 5, 2006, 01:16:30]