Mauldin Residents Will Pay $45 Trash Removal Fee

Mauldin residents will soon be paying a $45 city services fee for having their trash removed. The measure was approved at Monday evening’s city council meeting by a vote of 5-1.

The fee, which was previously labeled a public works fee and was expected to be $20 more, is part of Mauldin’s $16.4 million 2011-2012 budget.

Former Mauldin Mayor Wayne Crick told the council he opposed the fee and urged city officials to tighten their budgeting belts in ways that their colleagues at the federal level have not.

Council member Dale Black agreed with Crick and was the sole vote against the fee. Council member Patricia Gettys was not in attendance and did not vote.

The decision to add the fee comes after the city had to raise taxes last year. But according to Mayor Don Godbey the city was left with little choice. For three consecutive years Greenville County has raised tipping fees for the right to dump trash at Twin Chimneys landfill off Augusta Road in Greenville. Godbey also pointed out that the state is also levying a fee against Mauldin for the disposal of electronics.

“It’s almost like our garbage is twice as valuable as everyone else’s,” Godbey said.

Godbey added that the fee should net the city somewhere between $400-500,000. “We don’t want to lose the quality of our public services.”

Godbey said part of the reason the fee was lowered from $65 to $45 was because of a windfall the city received from the state due to population growth in the last decade.

But for some, even the $45 will be too much. As one speaker who addressed the council said,” I just can’t afford it.”