Business
Boise Seeks Trash Fee Increase
November 10, 2008 
The legal notices in the Daily Paper Monday were full of information tidbits including an across the board increase in fees for Boise trash pick up.
Boise City Council is off Tuesday for Veteran’s Day, but there is a public hearing set for November 18 since the proposed increases exceed 5%. In fact, the proposed increases range from 18.5% for residential collection with much lower increases for commercial pick up.
Like their friends at the ACHD, Boise City appears to be socking it to the middle class homeowners at a higher rate than the commercial users. Low-income users also get a discount.
The complexity of the fee schedule reeks of government obfuscation (for you non-library types that is: “to render obscure, unclear, or unintelligible” ). The GUARDIAN suggests they just do the math and raise the residential and commercial rates the SAME. The specialty services can also be done on a “per yard and frequency rate” without all the specifics which open it up to abuse, misunderstanding and bad feelings.
Appears to be a ton of new foreclosures, sales, etc. as well. Check out the Business & Classified pages beginning on page 5.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Nov 10, 2008, 10:34 pm
So how much is the increase. Folk should know that when times get hard for citizens, government raises taxes and fees.
Nov 10, 2008, 10:35 pm
Missed the 18.5%…not a trivial number. I guess that is easier than setting spending priorities, just jack up fees.
EDITOR NOTE–We assume the bulk of the fees will go to Allied Waste.
Nov 11, 2008, 4:22 am
Guardian, just got off work I asked the boss what his trash bill was and I was a bit surprised. The commercial folks pay more for cable, phone, and trash. Before the Guardian suggests they raise both residential and commercial rates the same lets here what they are at now. Facts Please
Nov 11, 2008, 7:39 am
Times are tough for all of us. They need to tighten there belts to. No increase is needed at this time. Tough it out BFC.
Nov 11, 2008, 7:59 am
BEEEEP, BEEEEP, BEEEEEP, WHHHIRRRRRRR, SLAM, BANG, BOOM
How about NOT emptying the dumpsters at 4:30 in the morning as a part of the deal?
Nov 11, 2008, 11:49 am
“EDITOR NOTE–We assume the bulk of the fees will go to Allied Waste”
Does that matter when the money comes from the same location, our wallets? Government has only one real oblgation IMHO, and that is to provide BASIC services at the lowest cost possible while not screwing with our basic freedoms. Too often government simply passes on cost increases to the public without ever considering resetting priorities…stealing from government priority B to pay for government priority A. If one does not set priorities, then everything becomes too important to cut or change and the only solution is to pass the cost on to the public.
How often have we heard that there is no money for, say transportation repairs, the number one priority? When they say that, what they really mean is that every other program government is running has a higher priority than transportation because they cannot and must not be changed or reduced. Leaders set priorities…politicians simply pass on costs.
Nov 13, 2008, 11:27 am
How about the $25.00 per computer monitor the city pays Allied Waste for disposal. That cost should be built into the price of the equipment when you buy it.
Why not look into a per/ can rate?
My neighbors usually have 4 cans of garbage every week for 3 people.
We have one plus recycle stuff.
Dec 1, 2008, 5:53 pm
I’d like to pay a flat fee for electricity and gas. But, thankfully, these are on a pay-for-what-you-use basis.
Garbage should be no different. You should pay for a certain size of container and all of your garbage must fit in that, or you pay extra. You may recycle all you wish, cutting down on what has to go in the trash can.
If you are a single person who recycles, you may be able to get away with the $10-a-month trash can and if you have a 10-member family too lazy to recycle, you may need the $75-a-month biggie.
What’s so hard about that? Why don’t they apply the same pay-as-you-go philosophy to garbage service?