By Jennifer Jacob Brown
If Lauderdale County decides to switch to curbside garbage pick-up, it won't be until after Christmas, Board of Supervisors President Hank Florey said Wednesday.
"We don't want to make a change with all the extra garbage of wrapping paper and bows during Christmas," Florey said. "There won't be any changes until next year, if we decide to go with door-to-door pick-up."
County Engineer Neal Carson said the county is currently reviewing the lowest bids for door-to-door pick-up, making sure that they understand exactly what each bidder is offering for the money.
"We're looking at the containers, things like that," he said. "Making sure we're on the same page."
Lauderdale is one of few counties in Mississippi that still uses the "green box" system of waste disposal, in which residents take their garbage to unmanned dump sites placed throughout the county.
The green box sites have been caused safety concerns for many residents, while others, like Bailey resident Sandra Winham, say they don't like them because they're just plain gross.
Some county officials want to get rid of the green boxes to put more "green" in the county's coffers. The county's sanitation fund is currently deeply in the red, and, Florey said, "It looks like roadside pick-up will be cheaper."
Still, not everyone is for the change. Many, including Causeyville resident Jody Walters, have expressed concern that leaving garbage in roadside containers will attract stray animals.
Others worry that the cost of roadside pick-up will go up after the first contract term is expired.
The board took into consideration proposals from several waste disposal companies for roadside pick-up and container rental. The low bidder was Arrow Disposal, which bid $9.10 a month per resident for once weekly pick-up plus the use by each resident of a 96 gallon waste container.
Residents currently pay $100 a year plus a four mill of property tax levy to use the green box system.
This amount, Florey said, will not change until next fiscal year no matter what decision the board makes about roadside pick-up. The amount was set before the bids were made and state law requires that it not be changed mid-year.
Florey said the county could change rates after this fiscal year is complete, but not necessarily for the worse.
According to County Administrator Mike Sumrall, there are several scenarios in which going with one of the low bidders on roadside pick-up could eventually result in a lowering of the tax levy for sanitation.
In one scenario — accepting the proposal Arrow disposal for once-weekly pick-up and container rental — the county could bring in, at the current $100 a year plus four mills rate, $300,000 more per year in sanitation fees than they spend.
"When you consider that," Sumrall said, "maybe in three or four years when we get that (current sanitation debt of about $1.2 million) wiped out, we could lower that levy a little bit."
But some residents are skeptical that any lowering of rates will occur. At a recent board meeting, county resident Ray Huffmaster presented the board with a petition asking that the garbage issue be put to a public vote.
Florey said the number of signatures on the petition were "far below" what was needed to force a vote - 25 percent of the county's registered voters. But District 5 Supervisor Ray Boswell appealed to the board to do what the petitioners asked anyway.
"I don't see how this board can refuse putting it on the ballot for these people," he said.
No other board member, however, expressed the same sentiment.
The proposals are all being considered by a sanitation committee, and the committee will make recommendations to the board during a work session.
Florey said the soonest the issue might come to a vote is during the first board meeting after Christmas. That meeting will take place Monday, January 4 at 9 a.m. in Raymond P. Davis county annex building on 5th St.
