Since the current Starkville Board of Aldermen first convened in July 2013, one of its primary themes has been making wise fiscal choices and while this board has been generally faithful to that mission, there have been instances where that commitment has resulted in little more than obstinance.
Nowhere is this more in evidence than in the board’s stubborn resistance to providing more funds for the city’s sanitation department.
Even as the department faces a real crisis – just one of its three commercial garbage trucks and one of its two street sweepers are currently in operating condition – the board appears to have dug in its heels. During its Feb. 17 meeting, the board voted against raising fees by $1.50 per month even after a previous vote that demanded the city spend more money for an upgrade in the free garbage bags it distributes to residents.
Those who voted against the rate increase – most notably, vice mayor Roy A. Perkins, who was the head cheerleader in pushing through the requirement for the more expensive garbage bags – smugly wrap themselves in the garments of being fiscally responsible with taxpayer money.
Yet fiscal responsibility sometimes means more than saying “no” to things like rate increases. In some instances, being fiscally responsible means spending more to ensure residents have the quality of service they rightfully expect.
Certainly, a sanitation department that is sufficiently equipped, qualifies.
Even with a $1.50 rate increase, which would increase the monthly fee to $16. Of course, that would mean raising the rate for the second time in two years (alderman raised the rate from $13 to $14.50 in 2013). It seems obvious, in retrospect, that the aldermen erred in 2013, not in raising the rates, but raising the rates too little.
At $16 per month, the cost for the city’s twice-weekly garbage pick-up is not at all out of line with what residents in other community’s pay for that service. Columbus, which contracts its garbage pick-up to private company, charges its residents $17 per month. West Point’s fee is $15.50, but the city only provides one-weekly pick-up service. Louisville, meanwhile, charges its residents $25 per month.
Aldermen, Perkins in particular, have spoken loudly and often about the need for city departments to run their departments efficiently by cutting waste and unnecessary expenses.
But in the absence of any evidence that the Sanitation Department has been wasteful, — and Perkins, et al., have not established any grounds to believe that is true — an increase in the rates seems entirely reasonable.
Aldermen appear to recognize the need for increased spending in other areas, voting for a recent increase in the water rate, approving a $5-million investment in an economic development project and voting for $3 million for other infrastructure needs.
That it would now balk at a reasonable increase in the garbage fee is tantamount to being penny-wise and pound-foolish.
The board would be wise to reconsider its position on this matter.
It is a matter of practical reality.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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