The Elgin City Council tentatively approved an eight-year waste collection contract Wednesday night that requires residents to pay for the removal of any refuse over 64 gallons.
Under the new contract, each Elgin household will receive two 64-gallon wheeled receptacles - one for refuse and one for recycling. Residents can choose smaller or larger cans for a reduced or increased fee. The council, meeting as a committee Wednesday night, should take a final vote June 22.
"The world of garbage is like a world of gold, it's an expensive proposition," said Kim Gilmore, president of Century Oaks West Neighborhood Association, summarizing a reality that Elgin residents will grapple with in September when the new collection system begins.
All recycling will be picked up for free, but extra 30-gallon bags for garbage as well as yard waste and grass clippings will require a $2 sticker on them. Large appliances will need to have a $25 sticker on them to be hauled from the curb. Specially marked 16-gallon garbage bags will be sold for $1.10 and will not require the sticker.
Bundled brush and fall leaf collection will continue to be free, and the city will have a free Christmas tree pickup after the holiday. The city will collect the recycling bins and garbage cans residents now use at no charge.
"The whole concept is changing behavior and changing the way people look at their waste," said Tish Powell, Elgin's solid waste coordinator.
Not everyone is embracing the change.
Residents expressed concerns Wednesday night about the proposal, wondering whether seniors will be able to wheel the carts, whether the carts will fit in crowded garages and whether the city's plan to lend $1 million from the water fund to the general fund to pay for the carts is prudent.
"Any change brings misapprehension," Mayor Ed Schock said.
To maintain the city's take-all policy, the city would have needed to pay an additional $410,000 annually for garbage collection, officials said.
"I just don't see how we're going to fund it in our operating budget if we continue in the direction we're going," said council member Ruth Munson, adding that the city's operating fund is taking a $250,000 hit through changes in the state's photo processing tax.
The lone dissenter Wednesday was council member Marie Yearman, who remembered a time when residents left garbage festering in and around their houses and warned against a return to those days.
"I think the citizens of Elgin pay taxes for some services other than police and fire," she said.
Council members Juan Figueroa and Bob Gilliam were absent from the meeting. Figueroa previously voted against the proposal, saying he needed more feedback from residents before imposing the fee on them. - Chicago Daily Herald