The Marion County Board of Supervisors will take bids next week for new garbage trucks as it looks to get back into collecting solid waste itself.
The question raised by some citizens has been what is different now than when the county contracted the service in 2013 to Red River Waste Solutions (which was replaced by Waste Pro in 2016).
“I just think we can do a better job,” Board President Randy Dyess said. “The problem I think we’re having now is just the consistency. It hasn’t worked like we wanted it to or like we thought it would.”
Dyess said when the county switched all of the trucks it had were about 10 years old and were starting to give them a lot of problems.
“At that time we just did not have the money to purchase new trucks,” he said. “Now our collection is up, so I believe we can go back into it without losing money.”
He said the tag office has really helped them out by strictly enforcing a rule that people cannot buy car tags if they have an outstanding garbage bill. Dyess said collections are much better now as a result.
The board will meet at 10 a.m. Monday in special session to open proposals from several companies for the trucks. Then at 10 a.m. Wednesday, supervisors will again convene in special session to use the state's new reverse auction online bidding for the first time to accept or reject bids.
The board is planning to buy three new trucks and will keep an old one for a spare.
Waste Pro has been struggling financially with the Marion County service. The county raised fees from $10 per house per month to $11 effective April 1, 2017, and then increased to $15 effective Jan. 1, 2018. Those increases were in part because Waste Pro was raising the price it was charging the county.
The garbage service has lost money each of the past three fiscal years, according to a public notice published annually detailing the solid waste revenues and expenditures.
In fiscal year 2016 (Oct. 1, 2016 to Sept. 30, 2017), the county lost $1,113. It brought in $1,032,121 and spent $1,032,254. The losses were larger in the previous two years, more than $68,000 in FY 2015 and $81,000 in FY 2014.
“I think they were losing money also, but they had to honor their contact,” Dyess said. “It’s probably a win/win for both of us.”
Supervisors discussed taking back over garbage service during their monthly meeting Thursday with CPA Charlie Prince.
“I don’t see why you can’t do it as economically or more economically than they were doing,” he said. “I think you’ll be successful.”
Prince did say rising gas costs would affect everthing and confirmed that the county would no longer have inmate labor to help with garbage collection. The state has cut off that supply of labor to cities and counties.
Prince generally gave a positive report on the county’s financial situation, saying the cash balance at the end of the fiscal year looks like it’s going to improve based on the first seven months.
Most expenses are in line with the budget, and revenues are going as projected, he said.
“That’s a tremendous improvement from what it was three or four years ago,” Chancery Clerk Cass Barnes said.
