Cheyenne Mayor Rick Kaysen says the possibility of hiring a private company for garbage collection in the city "has been discussed" and may be revisited.

But he also sees some potential problems with the idea. He says he's concerned that the city wouldn't be able to control rate increases as it does with city collection. He says another concern is lack of control over the service provided by the company.

Kaysen also says that while some people believe  a private business would lower rates charged to residents, a study he's seen conducted by a consultant shows that garbage rates actually are higher in communities that contract with private waste collection companies.

Kaysen also says hiring a private company would eliminate 105 city jobs.

The Cheyenne City Council recently declined to raise garbage rates in the city, but Kaysen says he expects another proposal to do that in the near future. A consultant hired by the city earlier this year issued a study calling for annual 8 percent garbage rate increases for the next few years.

There have also been proposals over the years to make the sanitation department an enterprise fund, meaning money collected for garbage fees would only go to that department, rather than other city agencies as is currently the case.

But Kaysen says those fees currently are an important funding source for the police department, parks and recreation and other city agencies--and if those funds aren't available, some other funding source would have to be found.

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