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Letter to the editor

Safety Harbor to handle its recycling collection

But two commissioners question the move in the face of coming cuts in property taxes.

By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published June 6, 2007

SAFETY HARBOR - Newspapers, plastics, glass and aluminum cans.

Once a week, Waste Management, a private company, picks up those recyclable items from curbs all over the city.

But starting in October, the city's sanitation crews, which already handle trash pickup citywide, will take over the job of collecting recyclable items, a move officials say will save the city thousands of dollars.

"If Waste Management does it next year, it would cost $246,825," said City Manager Billy Beckett. "Our projected cost is $149,982."

Additionally, the city expects to recoup $68,415 by selling just about all the recycled materials, which means the net cost of the program will be $81,567.

Still to be worked out, however, is whether glass items will be part of the city's curbside recycling program.

The commission voted 3-2 to hand the job over to city crews. City Commissioners Joseph Ayoub and James McCormick were against the idea.

"With the looming property tax cuts coming from the state legislature, I am not comfortable taking on a program that will require the city to buy expensive equipment and add several employees to the city's payroll," Ayoub said.

For his part, McCormick wants to explore the future privatization of the entire sanitation department.

The program requires that the city hire two new employees, a driver and a collector, this year and one new relief worker next year. It also means the city must buy a new truck this year and another in 2009 or 2010.

Beckett said while every household is charged a $2.77 recycling fee as part of its $14.12 monthly sanitation bill, only 32 percent put recyclable items at curbside.

He said he intends to improve that number by spreading the word about recycling throughout each neighborhood, an idea City Commissioner Nadine Nickeson supported.

"I feel it's an important service to our citizens," she said. "I hope we step up education efforts to encourage more citizens to participate."

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, only one curbside recycling program existed 20 years ago in the United States. By 2005, that number leaped to 9,000, and about 500 facilities had been constructed to process the materials.

Eileen Schulte can be reached at 727 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 6, 2007, 00:17:26]