FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA) — Fort Smith residential sanitation rates for trash, recycling, and other services could be going up within the city to make up for funding issues the sanitation department faces.
The city is looking at increasing the current $13.28 sanitation rate.
One proposal would increase it to $16.29.
A second proposal would increase it to $18.08, allotting funds to the sanitation department for an animal-services contract with Kitties and Kanines.
The projected cost for the animal shelter is $650,000 per year.
A third proposal would increase it to $18.83, to include funding for an animal control unit, says City Administrator Carl Geffken.
There’s also a proposal for a pay-as-you-throw program that would allow residents to pay for the amount of garbage they dispose of, instead of a flat rate.
Geffken says the last rate change for this department was more than a decade ago. It was a decrease due to the implementation of automated collection.
“New garbage trucks, new recycling trucks…we need to make sure that the equipment that is on the landfill…which our bulldozers, our compactors…the more we compact the trash on the landfill, the more life we got out of our landfill. We need to make sure our composting area is kept up. There are many expenses and people don’t necessarily know they’re all there,” he said.
No decision has been made by the Fort Smith Board of Directors.
