KINGWOOD — Kingwood Council hired accountants to look into its garbage costs.
Council agreed Tuesday to hire Bennett and Dobbins to look over the city’s garbage expenses. Council is discussing increasing the monthly garbage rate, which is $15.90 in town for residential customers and $17.26 out of town.
Mayor Jean Guillot said both S&K Sanitation and Sunrise Sanitation charge more than Kingwood, which hasn’t had a price increase since 2010 for household pickup and 2007 for the transfer station.
Councilman Dick Shaffer, who cast the only vote against the motion, said the city hasn’t even looked at the budget to see why garbage and recycling are losing money. That’s why we need to hire someone, Councilman Mike Lipscomb responded.
“I think we’ve lost money for a long time and we were just ignorant of it,” Lipscomb said.
Recorder Bill Robertson briefed council last month on his attempt to decipher the garbage and recycling budgets. One problem, he noted, is that not all expenses of the two are included in their budgets. Instead they are in the city’s expenses.
His finding was that both are running in the red.
Mayor Jean Guillot said the city has to transfer money into the garbage accounts to balance the budgets.
“You’ve got to figure when you do these things not everybody in this town has a pocketful of money like some of you at this table,” Shaffer said.
Shaffer suggested raising rates $2 per month for customers in town and $3 for those outside town. Others responded that in order for the State Public Service Commission to approve a rate hike, financial information like what the CPA firm will prepare will be required.
The Tucker County Landfill, where Kingwood takes its trash, is proposing a 3% rate hike, the mayor noted.
The firm charges $160 per hour, the mayor said. “But, if we’re losing thousands of dollars a month, then it doesn’t take many months,” to make that up.
Shaffer also said the city sewer and water boards don’t pay for pickup or using the transfer station. Guillot said they do now. The Water Board’s bill is about $16 per week, he said, and sewer will pay at the transfer station based on what is taken there.
