Salvaging the City's Yard Debris Program

The New Port Richey environmental committee is asking the city find a way to continue its residential yard debris pickup and mulching service, which is .

Sisters Kacey and Kira Atkinson delivered the message during Tuesday's meeting on budget issues.

Reading from a statement, Kacey said:

“On behalf of the environmental committee, it is our request that the city council in its budget deliberations take into consideration our recommendation, which by unanimous vote, strongly encourages the city to retain the mulch program through public works as it is currently structured and consider all economies that are available.”

Confronted with dire financial projections over the next five years, city officials are proposing department budget cuts for fiscal year 2013.

The program currently costs $186,633 annually, according Robert Rivera, assistant public works director.  Officials are proposing eliminating two driver positions involved in the program from the fiscal year 2013 budget, but one of those positions is vacant.

Through the program, the city picks up yard debris from residences in the incorporated city limits. The debris is picked up from the curb. 

The city grinds the debris into mulch. The mulch is then offered to folks for free pickup or delivery, but the people who receive mulch don’t have to live in the city.

One option is that the city could charge a fee for this program. If that were to happen, residents could face an annual charge of $28.28 each, according to a write-up from Rivera.

If the pickup program goes away, Public Works will probably have to embark on an extensive public education campaign to curb illegal dumping and will work with code enforcement, Rivera said.

Folks could still have their debris picked up by private haulers, although they have to comply with their size requirements.

“It does appear that if we eliminated the mulch program altogether that residents would see an increase in certain costs, specifically if they had to pay a trash hauler more to take away a lot of their lawn debris,” said former city councilman Dell deChant, a member of the environmental board.

“It also does appear that if we got rid of the mulch program, there might be a need for additional staff, or there would potentially be great piles of debris accumulating in the city," he said.

Rivera has identified an alternative for the program that would have people drop off yard debris at the city mulching facility instead of having the city haul it there. That would still cost the city $41,000. Should the city elect to charge a fee for the service, it would break down to $6.31 a person annually..

The city could still have to pay an estimated cost of $86,850 to deal with illegal dumping, tree trimming and debris removal on the right-of-way if it discontinued its current pickup program, Rivera said.