Unpaid bills amnesty

In Arizona, delinquent utility users in Surprise's Original Town Site owed the city about $262,000 in unpaid sewer and trash bills - some a decade old - but the city forgave 81 percent of the debt, according to public records. The City Council in March established the amnesty program, allowing people in 101 households to set up a payment plan with the city to bring their accounts current.

As of last week, about 20 percent of the accounts have been paid in full, but 14 people who set up payment plans have defaulted on them, resulting in a planned water shutoff either late this month or in July. The remaining debt is $40,102. However, the city will not see about $9,576 of that amount because 21 accounts are closed. City officials said that the customer moved out of the property or the land is now vacant. In one case, the customer died. The utility billing software contains a facility to write bills off.

Paying for recycling

It is reported that Oshkosh residents will pay for carts that will be used as part of the city’s switch to automated recycling this fall. Going against a vote from last fall, the Oshkosh Common Council voted 7-0 Tuesday to go ahead with assessing a one-time special fee on property taxes to pay for recycling carts, charging homeowners $46.51 for a 95-gallon cart and $40.18 for a 64-gallon cart. Initially, the council voted 6-1 in November to finance the carts over 10 years. During a discussion on the matter in March, the majority of the councilors expressed desire to switch to the special fee so the city decided to take another vote on the matter.

In discussion of how to pay for the carts, councilors said charging property owners encourages them to take responsibility for their carts. "There’s an ownership associated with it," said councilor Harold Buchholz. Now the city plans to go ahead with its education process over the summer, teaching residents how the switch will affect them. City Manager Mark Rohloff said information will be mailed out to Oshkosh residents regarding the switch and a Web site on single-stream recycling created.

In information mailed out, Public Works Director David Patek said the city would give residents the option of obtaining a 95-gallon or 64-gallon cart. If the residents do not specifically request a 64-gallon cart, they will be provided with the larger cart. As part of the switch to single-stream, residents will put all recyclables – paper, plastic, cardboard, glass – in the one bin for pick up every two weeks.

"I think people will be surprised once they get cardboard and other recyclables in there that they will be able to use that (95-gallon) bin pretty readily," Rohloff said.

Recycling. What recycling?

Cities that manage their own trash collections and get their citizens to pay via their property taxes or utility bills apparently may not be doing so well these days, according to CNN. When Lynn Heinisch and her neighbors in Atlanta's Lake Claire neighborhood take their recycling to the curb for pickup each Thursday, they cross their fingers and hope for the best. Accusing city collectors of unreliable pickups, Heinisch and the others have resorted to stockpiling recyclable materials in their garages.

"It's frustrating," Heinisch said. "People are trying to recycle, and it's not easy. I wish it was easy to do what we all feel strongly about." When she has to, Heinisch drives her recycling 4 miles to a dropoff center in the town of Decatur.

The recession has trashed the nation's booming recycling industry in just a few months, and cities are straining to keep their programs alive. Demand for commodities such as cardboard, paper and glass has taken a nose dive, and prices for those materials have gone south since last fall. In August, a recycler in Georgia could expect to receive about $160 a ton for curbside recyclables. Now the average is about $37 a ton.