City Council To Take Up Trash Fee Increase Monday

The Cheyenne City Council may make a final decision on a trash fee increase at it's Monday night meeting (June 8).

The current trash fee proposal would increase the fees by five percent over each of the next five years. Public Works Director Vicki Nemecek and other supporters of the increase say the extra money is needed to pay for an expansion and renovation of the Solid Waste Transfer Station.

They also say the Happy Jack Landfill is rapidly running out of room and that an expansion or other solution will have to be found. But the fee increase is deeply unpopular with some members of the public, many of whom question whether the increase is really needed. Some opponents are also angry that money from sanitation fees has for years gone to help fund other city agencies.

At it's last regular meeting on May 26 the council heard from roughly a dozen opponents of the increase, and the council's Finance Committee on Monday didn't discuss the proposed increase when a motion on the proposal couldn't get a second that would have allowed for discussion.

One resident who spoke before the Finance Committee Monday said the proposal wasn't really about "need  but greed" on the part of the city. Other opponents have described the proposal as an attempt at "theft" by the city.

But Finance Committee Chair JIm Brown said he was frustrated that the issue wasn't even seconded for discussion on Monday and indicated the council at this point has had enough time to gather information on the issue and needs to act.