Trash Talk: City of Grosse Pointe Weighs Removal Options

Garbage collection in the could undergo some changes during the next fiscal year as the council reviews options for getting the expense under control.

The five-day a week operation responsible for commercial garbage pickup is costing the city more than it is bringing in. Council wants the service to be self-sustaining so as to not pull from the general fund but an analysis shows it would fall $38,000 short for the next fiscal year.

City Manager Pete Dame told council members one way to close the gap more is to charge several sites that currently receive the service but don't pay the fee. Those include schools, churches and nonprofit organizations, which could generate about $9,000 more. 

Council gave Dame the clearance to send notification letters to those sites alerting them to the charge, to be implemented July 1. They will be charged the same collection fee as commercial businesses. 

Council also discussed other possible options, including eliminating commercial removal altogether and allowing businesses to hire their own removal companies and to change requirements of how much garbage one business is allowed. 

Dame also suggested the City review the idea of hiring a private contractor to do the same work for less money. 

Final decisions about the garbage collection are likely to come during formal budget discussions, which are nearing. The council set a public hearing for the 2011-12 fiscal budget for May 9. 

Dame gave council members a preliminary draft of the budget Monday. Council was directed to review it and discuss questions or ideas with Dame in the next week, which will allow him to prepare a more formal draft proposal for their passage. 

No specific figures were discussed about the preliminary draft but Dame told council members essentially every department will have cuts. He estimated most near 5.5 percent, which is the amount of loss in taxable revenue from dropping home values. 

Dame highlighted some of the reductions included in the drafted proposal

• No salary increases for employees
• Increased healthcare contributions by employees
• Reduction in his own salary
• Elimination of contracted workers for the inspection of exteriors of residential properties
• Job elimination through attrition for the police department, which will not affect the number of patrol officers on the streets
• Elimination of the least popular of the summer festivals, Michigan Marina Day
• Elimination of seasonal labor for the Public Works Department
• Reduction in funds to purchase salt, trees and plants

The drafted budget also includes the replacement of a water main on Mack Avenue and a sidewalk facelift to be completed at the same time while the area is already torn up. 

It also avoids having to seek any additional taxes from residents, Dame said. 

In other business, Public Safety Director James Fox presented the 2010 Annual Report noting a 15.9 percent increase in crime from 2009. The increase, however, is not significant or an amount officials or residents should be concerned about, he said. 

Detectives solved many of the crimes, including a few series of crimes that were committed by the same person or group of people, Fox said. He also noted for council that 2009 was an unusually slow year and it's still one of the lowest years in the last six. 

Fox also told council of the retirement by Lt. Paul Onderbeke, who has worked for the department 28 years. His service will be greatly missed, Fox said.