Macon-Bibb officials stall changes in trash billing

The Macon-Bibb County Commission will again discuss a proposal to have property owners pay garbage and recycling fees annually.

Commissioners voted 6-3 Tuesday to table the fee change designed to help the county receive a higher percentage of collections for the services. Some county officials say the updated code offsets some costs being subsidized to cover solid waste services.

Commissioner Virgil Watkins said that solid waste department has become more inefficient since garbage services were privatized in 2016. He also questioned how beneficial assessing the fees to all parcels with residential structures would be.

The ordinance will return to the Feb. 28 commission committee meeting agenda.

It’s a “fallacy to consider someone who hasn’t paid in a long time, because we switched to annual billing would (now) pay us,” Watkins said.

Garbage and recycling is currently billed four times a year.

There’s also state legislation that could impact how Macon-Bibb sends out solid waste fee statements. The county ordinance proposes Macon-Bibb solid waste fees be listed as a line item on the property tax bill.

House Bill 204, now being debated in the state legislature, would require property tax bills to be billed alone, separate from other bills like trash bills and stormwater service fees.

The legislation, however, would permit local governments to mail out solid waste fees with property tax bills as long as it’s printed on a separate statement.

“It’s legal today in Georgia to take a family’s home away from them for failure to pay a …trash bill,” state Rep. Brett Harrell, R-Snellville, told the House Ways and Means Committee on Feb. 16 just before it passed his House Bill 204.

State Rep. Patty James Bentley, D-Butler, supports the measure.

“I’m fearful of constituents having a lien placed on their property because of those additional fees being placed on their property tax bills,” she said ahead of the vote on the bill.

It’s now up to the House Rules Committee to decide if the bill will be scheduled for a full floor vote.

The plan is to have the first annual bill on a different statement than the property tax bill if the ordinance is approved. In following years, it would be added to the property tax statement.

Local governments see another advantage to sending the bills on one piece of paper: it’s cheaper than separate statements. Macon-Bibb would still save money by printing statements once a year instead of quarterly.

“We heard this (bill) was coming but our reading is it doesn’t impact our ability do annual billing or put it out at the same time,” Macon-Bibb spokesman Chris Floore said.

With first annual billing, Macon-Bibb property owners would pay for 15 months of garbage and recycling services. In the following years bills will cover 12 months.

The ordinance includes a provision for property owners over the age of 62 who meet certain income guidelines and the fully disabled to request quarterly bills.

There was some opposition to the ordinance outlining for higher fees, especially after increased costs were part of a new solid waste plan implemented in 2016. The monthly rate will jump from $20 to $22 in 2019, meaning 12 months of service will go from $240 to $264.

In subsequent years the fee would be based on inflation.

“The tax commissioner has also indicated his willingness and history of working with taxpayers to collect partial payments and work with them,” Mayor Robert Reichert said at Tuesday’s meeting.

This story was originally published February 21, 2017 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Macon-Bibb officials stall changes in trash billing."