By By Fredie Carmichael/The Meridian Star
Oct. 16, 2001
County supervisors voted 4-1 on Monday night to keep charging county residents $60 a year for garbage collection.
The fee pays for the operation of the solid waste collection: fuel and maintenance of county dump trucks; salaries for the drivers; upkeep of nearly 400 green garbage boxes in the county; and the price to dump the garbage in the landfills.
In 2001, the county paid $527,000 to handle garbage $127,000 more than the year before.
Ray Boswell, District 5, was the only supervisor who voted "no." He said the residents wouldn't have to pay the fee if the county did a better job policing the green garbage boxes.
Dana McKinley, a resident of Rainbow Lakes in District 2, agreed with Boswell and told the board after the vote that she was "very disturbed" because her green box is hard to get to. McKinley said she would like to see county residents vote on a new system for solid waste collection.
In 1992, county residents voted overwhelmingly to keep the green box system intact, rejecting door-to-door pick-up by 76 percent-24 percent.
Fredie Carmichael is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. Call him at 693-1551, ext. 3228, or e-mail him at fcarmichael@themeridianstar.com.