Pike County supervisors are trying to offset waste collection costs, saying contractor Waste Management is charging the county for more houses than it is collecting.
“It’s costing us more money than we are billing to have the garbage picked up, so we’re going to have to look at it and adjust it to get that part in our budget back up where it used to be,” Supervisor Luke Brewer said after the board meeting Friday morning.
Supervisor Faye Hodges said supervisors are considering options such as adding the cost to car tags, increasing the millage that’s already being collected for garbage collection or increasing the monthly fee.
County administrator Tami Dangerfield told supervisors that Waste Management is billing the county for 9,745 households.
“It all has to do with the number of households,” Chuck Lambert said. “For years, our house count was low and we were billing more houses than they (Waste Management) were billing us for.”
Residents are billed $14 a month for garbage disposal and the board pays $11.22 to Waste Management, Dangerfield said. Residents have the option to pay it monthly, quarterly or annually.
The current rates are not sufficient to pay for supplies, staff and other related costs, Lambert said.
“If the cost is increased about $2.50 a month to $16.50, at the 85 percent collection rate, it would bring in about $220,000 a year,” Dangerfield said.
Problems arise when residents don’t pay the garbage disposal bill. To curb that issue, Supervisor Tazwell Bowsky suggested adding the cost to car tags, which applies only to county residents and not those who live in municipalities.
Lambert said that could be tricky for local residents who have Louisiana license plates.
“People need to understand if a car is domicile in Pike County majority of the time, state law requires it be tagged in Pike County,” he said.
Tax collector Gwen Nunnery agreed that the address people claim as their residence is going to correspond with the tag they receive, but added that “putting it on car tags is not going to help the situation at all,” especially if there are multiple vehicles at one residence.
Lambert said the cost would only be added to the tags if the garbage disposal bill was not paid.
The board did not make any motions toward approving options related to Waste Management costs.
In other news, the board:
• Approved the payment of $109,250 to S&S Excavation LLC for the Guy Barkdull Road bridge demolition.
• Approved a one-year contract for security services at the Pike County Multipurpose Complex with Delta Services.
• Adopted a resolution in support of providing high-speed Internet services to rural areas.
• Approved travel and per diem for Supervisors Tazwell Bowsky and Faye Hodges to attend the Mississippi Association of Supervisors Minority Caucus Educational Conference in Indianola in April.
• Authorized a modification to the Solid Waste Assistance Grant agreement from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality by extending the ending date from Dec. 31, 2018 to Dec. 31, 2019.
• Accepted resignation of Dick Frohn from the McComb Pike County Airport Board.
• Approved a payment of $35,016 to Neel-Schaffer for services in November 2018, including the Gateway Industrial Park Project, general consulting and McKenzie Road.
• Reappointed John Hilbert to the Jury Commission for a term expiring Dec. 31, 2022.
• Accepted annual road inspection reports.
• Approved a Juvenile Drug Court grant application.
• Voided the 2017 tax sale for two parcels at Nunnery’s request.
