Cheyenne City Councilman: Trash Fee Increase Should Be 8 Percent
Cheyenne City Councilman Richard Johnson says he is upset that a proposed trash fee increase for area residents has been scaled back to five percent rather than eight percent.
Johnson notes a study conducted for the city several years ago recommended an eight percent increase in fees over each year of a five year period, adding he thinks the best thing would be to adhere to the findings of that study.
Three 8 percent increases have been implemented, and Cheyenne Public Works Director Vicki Nemecek said on Tuesday that her agency had originally planned to ask for another eight percent increase this year. But she says a lifetime permit which was recently granted for the Happy Jack Landfill will allow for delaying a planned expansion project for a couple of years.
Since the cost of that expansion would have been included in the eight percent increase, Nemecek says this year's increase request was scaled back to five percent.
But Johnson said Thursday he is concerned that rather than having the planned eight percent increase implemented over five years and finishing the needed work, the city could now be facing trash fee increases "over and over again" over the next few years.