The Salem City Council has approved increases in the cost of garbage and leaf collection.
City Manager Rex Barbee told the City Council Monday night the $1 a month increase in the garbage collection fee and 45-cent a month for leaf collection will solve a budget deficit in the garbage fund that has been growing since 2017.
“The leaf vac has not had any shift in price since it was instituted in 2009. The last couple of years we have seen costs go up at the landfill for the monitoring activities and maintenance. The new garbage contract that goes into effect at the beginning of the year is going up 75-cents per residence.”
Councilman Jim Koehler at one point suggested putting off the increase until June or July due to the impact of COVID-19 on residents, but the final vote in favor of the January start for the increase was unanimous.
The council gave first reading approval to a social media policy that will require the archiving of any content on the city website and social media sites.
Barbee announced Wabash Communications has completed the installation of the WiFi in Bryan Memorial Park and it is now available for use.
Barbee says the city has received complaints about late-arriving utility bills, sometimes after cutoff notices have been received. He says the city is sending out the bills on time and this is a post office problem with sending all the mail to St. Louis. Barbee is encouraging residents to sign up for e-billing and those who do so will have late fees from the late-arriving bills in November credited. He reminds residents during the current closure of city hall to the public that bills can be placed in the dropbox, by mail, or by calling with a debit or credit card for payment.
Barbee says there have been some cool days at city hall due to boiler problems, but he reports the new boiler should be installed before the end of the week.
Photo: Salem City Manager Rex Barbee.
