Apartment Residents Paying For Un-necessary Garbage Service?

Fairhope, Alabama

Graceway Senior Apartments

RESIDENTS OBJECTING

During the last council meeting Queen Watson a resident of the 48-unit Graceway senior citizens' apartment complex on Bishop Road in east Fairhope asked the mayor and city council why residents there were being billed a $20 monthly garbage fee on their utility bills ... but do not actually use the service: they use a private waste collection company instead (Republic Services). Watson added the rent there is subsidized based upon income, and $20 could be a substantial amount for some residents with only social security to depend on.

The mayor/council replied the original city ordinance from the early 1960s states that all residents of the city must pay the fee, but were not sure of the reasons then; councilman Burrell speculated it may have been to ensure the original service was economically viable at that time.

Councilman Martin said he thought the issue had already been taken care of when the fees were raised to $20 last year.

CHANGES COMING?

Mayor Sullivan said she thought the ordinance ought to be amended to waive the fee in such cases and council members present seemed to agree (Robinson was absent).

The matter is on Monday's council work session agenda, beginning at 4:30PM; it could be addressed during the regular council meeting that follows.

Queen Watson

Dumpster used instead.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Please ask Mayor Sullivan why the same thing is happening to seniors at Shellbrooke Pointe….. they also have a private waste service.

Saturday, July 09, 2022

All residents benefit from garbage service, whether or not they use it directly. Paying the fee that funds the service prevents dumping problems that were common previously and also likely helps pay for removing trash from public cans uptown. Allowing exceptions is not a good idea—will they establish a separate, independent appeal committee to manage requests?

Sunday, July 10, 2022

👀 🧸

The city should give them a rebate & suspended the $20 unjust fee . Taking the sales tax off senior taxpayers would be nice thing for the city to do .

Landlords should pay it. Problem solved!

If the citizens are using a private trash service and have been from the beginning, the city should refund every dollar.

Relieving seniors from sales tax would be a nice thing to do, but who should subsidize the seniors who had a lifetime to plan and save? A struggling young family of five, in this guttering economy, who are already subsidizing Social Security far beyond what today's seniors ever paid in, and likely far beyond what those young parents will ever see when they grow old?
The City has no money other than our money, and the looser our grip on this reality, the closer we come to repeating the spectacular failure of our overlords in Washington D.C and the blue state cities from which many of us have fled.

Monday, July 11, 2022

Single Tax Colony = Communism.

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Single Tax Colony = Double Taxation. No one forces you to buy single tax property.

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Ever use the library? The pier? The parks?

Friday, July 15, 2022