Cheyenne Council Committee To Discuss Garbage Fee Increase
The Cheyenne City Council Finance Committee will take up a proposed 8 percent increase in city garbage fees on Monday.
Supporters of the increase, including Mayor Rick Kaysen, say the fee hike is needed to help pay for an expansion of the Happy Jack Landfill and the Solid Waste Transfer Station as well as other sanitation operations.
They point to a study conducted for the city a couple of years ago which said Cheyenne needed to increase it's garbage fees by 8 percent annually over each of the next five years.
The mayor said last week he is concerned about the Sanitation Division ''falling further and further behind" without the increase. He also said such a large increase might not be needed now if the city had done a better job of imposing gradual rate increases in recent years to keep up with costs.
City Councilman Dicky Shanor recently said some type of fee increase is needed, although the also said an argument could be made for the amount being anywhere between 6 percent and 10 percent.
Shanor did add, however, that the consultant study calling for annual 8 percent increases was conducted before the council put an end to a city budget practice of using about $1.6 million per year from sanitation fees to help fund other city operations.
The Finance Committee meeting is slated for 11 a.m. at the city Municipal Building (city hall) at 2101 O'Neil. The new Sanitation fee schedule will take effect on July 1.