OCONTO – Oconto residents may pay more to get rid of their garbage starting early next year.
The Oconto City Council should seriously consider increasing the price it charges residents for the blue bags they’re required to use for garbage disposal, Superintendent of Public Works and Utilities Jeremy Wusterbarth told council members Tuesday.
Wusterbarth said he would recommend charging an extra 50 cents per bag, going to $1 per small bag and $1.50 for a large one, respectively. He also said that he recommends selling them in rolls of 20, instead of 10.
Alderperson Jean Feldt asked if it would be possible for the increase to be just a quarter to ease the increase on the public.
“They’re going to go, “A buck a bag!” — I can hear it now,” Feldt said.
The current price of 50 cents and $1, respectively, has remained unchanged since the blue bag system went into effect in 1994, Wusterbarth said.
“I think most people know in 28 years the cost of business has gone up considerably,” Wusterbarth said.
Since then, he added, landfill costs have increased from $35 a ton to $58 a ton, and the costs the bags themselves has gone up considerably.
The increased price would generate around $25,000 of additional revenue, up from about $50,000, which would help offset some of the landfill costs, Wusterbarth said.
“It would definitely help improve things at budget time,” he said.
The discussion about the price of the garbage bags came before the council voted on ordering a new supply of blue bags, as the current inventory is nearing exhaustion.
When the city sought bids for the bags, it asked for the orders to come in rolls of 20.
The city received only two bids. One was from Belson Co. in Green Bay, which has supplied nearly all the bags for the city since 1994, he said.
But Belson in its bid said it would only supply them as they have in the past, 50 in a roll of small bags and 25 in the large bags. Its bid was $38,862 for 225 cases of small bags and 285 cases of large bags.
The second bid came from a New Jersey company, Unipak, which will send them rolls of 20. They bid $31,691.
The Board of Public Works felt that by buying and selling them in rolls of 20, it would eliminate the need to have the bags re-rolled into the rolls of 10 each, Wusterbarth said.
It currently costs the city $5,500 to $7,500 a year to do that. The work is handled by a local family, he said, but sometimes city staff or seasonal workers chip in if they get behind.
Going to rolls of 20 should cut down on stops citizens need to get the bags, he said, suggesting that elderly and other residents who don’t have a lot of garbage can split a roll with another person.
“It’s definitely going to save us a lot of labor by going down to the 20 rolls,” Wusterbarth said.
He recommended the council take the low bid, which was approved.
“I can see logic of going to other company,” Feldt said. “It’ll be more convenient for everybody.”
Wusterbarth said a recommendation will come to the council during the budgeting process this fall to go into effect in 2023.
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Contact Kent Tempus at (920) 431-8226 or [email protected].
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