Trash billing and pick-up deal beginning to crystallize in Morgantown

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — No matter how complicated it gets, Tim Ball with the Morgantown Utility Board said changing the process of Morgantown’s trash pick-up is a worthy goal.

“If we can do this right and establish it and run it well, this should be a win-win all around,” Ball said on WAJR’s Morgantown AM.

The ongoing negotiations between the City of Morgantown, MUB, and Republic Trash Services to change how billing and trash collection in the city operates has been underway for several weeks, with Ball suggesting earlier this month that they had ironed out less than 50 percent of the necessary details.

“As a result of the simplicity that Republic enjoys, we’ll probably have a cleaner community,” Ball said. “I know that’s the City Manager’s goal. [Paul Brake] described that to me several times. The bottom line for him is this translates into a cleaner community.”

Brake will present his plan to MUB at their next meeting, Jan. 22. The details still aren’t fully clear, but the framework appears to look something like this: MUB will update their billing database to include a trash fee on the water bills for all residential customers in the City of Morgantown. The City of Morgantown will pay a flat fee to Republic to simply pick up trash for those aforementioned customers, rather then the current system where Republic will leave trash behind for delinquent customers.

“We take care of the issues of neighbors having to complain about their fellow neighbors leaving the trash out because of unpaid bills,” Morgantown Deputy Mayor Mark Brazaitis said. “So, the stink problem is handled by the city.”

There are some issues to iron out, though. Perhaps most importantly: MUB and Morgantown would need to definitively settle what constitutes a residential customer versus a commercial customer in a town overflowing with rental properties.

“There are things to iron out, but overall I think the broad plan is worth pursuing,” Brazaitis said. “I think it’s an excellent idea. Let’s give it a try.”

Another potential flaw in the plan, Ball said, is that the City of Morgantown would be assuming the risk on delinquency. MUB would address that by including the trash fee as a line-item on future water bills.

“They’ll get their combined MUB garbage bill, and it’ll just be more convenient for them to write the one single check to us,” Ball said. “Then we’ll send the city their share of it.”

Ball said a water bill might appear larger, but the overall cost for customers wouldn’t actually change. If a deal is struck, an educational component would be required to make sure customers aren’t attempting to double pay or try to pay Republic directly.

“A lot of them are going to mistakenly think that the increased dollars that they are paying is all going to MUB,” Ball said.

In fact, it could lead to fewer delinquent customers — a possibility that might free up resources and personnel elsewhere, particularly in the City’s law enforcement division.

“Clearly, the police department doesn’t look forward to doing garbage collections when they come to work each day,” Ball said. “This would be a far better utilization of our existing police budget. Police get to do police work instead of collecting on garbage accounts.”

Deputy Mayor Brazaitis said the cost savings incorporated with Morgantown’s police officers no longer being involved with trash could further open up a series of intriguing possibilities — like subsidizing trash services for low-income residents.

“I would like to investigate that issue because it ties into our concerns with affordable housing in our community,” he said this week on Morgantown AM. “We’ve really priced the market out of reach of many working class folks.”

“If our police now don’t have to knock on doors for truant customers, then sure. Why don’t we think about a kind of refund or a subsidized trash pick-up to our citizens? It seems worth looking into.”

That, Brazaitis said, was a long way off from happening — if it ever does at all. In the meantime, he is looking forward to seeing the details ironed out and the city streets cleaner — a possibility at some point in 2018.

“I wouldn’t even call it a gamble,” he added. “I think it’s a worthwhile enterprise.”