With nearly two months in the books since Marion County’s takeover of garbage services, the switch has gone off without a hitch, officials say.
District 2 Supervisor Terry Broome said the operations have been smooth in all five beats.
“We have had really very little calls or disruptions of any kind. (It’s) probably 1 percent of what we were having prior to taking over,” he said. “The crews are working good and getting the garbage picked up with consistent timing.”
Other than one instance of a truck breaking down, Broome said the crews have been so consistent that they have picked up garbage within minutes of the scheduled time each week.
“We have really good crews and have had no problems whatsoever. It’s one of the better moves we have made,” he said.
The county took over garbage service on Dec. 3 after five years of contracting it out. Both the city and county began contracting with Red River Waste Solutions in 2013 because the municipalities' aging equipment was driving up costs, but there have been complaints about spotty service and price increases.
In 2016, Red River was replaced by Waste Pro.
City and county officials raised fees in 2017 to $15 per house per month to accommodate rising expenses.
Supervisors voted in May 2018 to buy the three trucks and ended up getting them for $134,000 apiece.
The city continues to use Waste Pro, but city officials are exploring taking back over the service when the contract with Waste Pro expires later this year.
So far, the county is happy it made the switch. Broome said the county expects the transition to produce positive financial results.
“It will save us some money,” he said. “We will see a little better revenue coming in, too, with solid waste and a little less expenditures going out.”
One of the concerns with the switch was county residents being aware of the difference in pickup time with the country transitioning to five days instead of four, but Broome said roughly 99 percent were conscious of the change.
While there have been few complaints to this point, Broome said if there are any concerns residents can reach out.
“If you have any questions, anything that is not going the way it’s supposed to be, let us know. Tha t’s the only way we will know is from the residents themselves,” he said.
Residents can contact Marion County Solid Waste at (601) 736-8847.
