I received an email the other day from a thoughtful writer and reader of this blog. It concerns the recent 110% increase in the garbage fee and how this city is basically ripping off the taxpaying residents by providing nothing, nada, I mean we are now paying $13 a month for a Garbage Fee. A fee that was a band aid fix to a city budget some years ago and was supposed to be a temporary fix. Funny how politicians never ever do away with a tax or a fee. Here’s what she sent and I am withholding her name because she was kind enough to allow me to publish it here. It is self explanatory and see if you can grasp how our City Council is ass raping us and really, it’s not all PDC’s fault. It also includes a reply from Eric Shangraw, PDC Marketing Director,
Mr. Emert-
I know you have included this topic in a previous post concerning the screw-ups from CIty Council and honestly, it does sound like a piddley issue but the money the City Council is making from mandating 40,000 households to rent totes for $7 extra a month is anything but. According to PDC, households who rented their totes before the City Council made it mandatory were paying $2.50 per month for the tote. Now for the SAME TOTE they are paying $7 to the CITY. What is the City paying for these totes?? Only $1.30 of that $7.00 is going into PDC's pocket. That means $5.70 per month is for the City who has no part in this. That adds up to $228,000 per month for the City and $2,736,000 a year extra in the City's pocket for doing NOTHING. I emailed PDC and asked them why am I paying right now, this month for my tote when I won't get it until June 30th? This is their answer:
"This past November, the Peoria City Council asked us (PDC) to start a trash-cart program. At that time we said we would need until June 30th to have the entire program implemented. We needed a period of time to take the size-orders of 40,000 households, put in our order with the manufacturer, and then have them delivered.
Despite the time frame we spelled out, the council voted to start collecting the higher fee for service as of January 1, 2012. We will not start collecting a fee for the cart program from the City until July 1, 2012, after all the carts are delivered. The City is getting them through PDC for $1.30/month for a 5-year period, then 60-cents a month for the following 3-years."
Eric Shangraw
Municipal Marketing Manager
PDC/AREA Disposal
SO that means that from February thru June (5 months) the City is pocketing the ENTIRE $7 per household. That is $1,400,000 that we are all GIVING the City for absolutely no tote, no service, NOTHING. Over a million dollars straight into the Council coffers and no one seems to notice. I hope you will see fit to follow up on this issue as I can't find anyone who seems to mind the extra $6 on their water bill. It's not about my $6, it's about the nearly THREE MILLION dollars the city gains from us all over the course of the next 12 months.
Btw if I refuse to pay the $6 until my tote arrives, my water is shut off, so we are all apparently being held hostage by the City's extortion and skimming from the tote service by the need for clean drinking water.
MY TWO CENTS: Look, I have no problem with the city helping development in the form of roads, sewers, water and things like that. I do have a problem when our city goes into the hotel business with taxpayer money or using taxpayer monies funds projects for private owners in the warehouse district. What chaps my balls more than anything is the fact that then our council looks us in the face and says we need to trim the budget and cuts city services and police. Yes police when crime in Peoria, (we are not Chicago) a Midwestern town of barley 100,000 people tucked away in the Midwest has shootings and robberies everyday everywhere. Where elderly people get their homes kicked in and robbed and then beaten, where purses are taken in broad daylight, where bullet holes land in the Civic Center windows while a council meeting is going on. Crap.
Look, to some people 13 bucks ain’t shit. They pay their damn water bill and move on. To many others in this community, 13 bucks is the difference between blood pressure pills that month or water service. Which leads me to remind you folks that the city has and retains a buyout option for the water company. Ever since what, 1899? (Correct me here if I am wrong) Every 5 years the city can opt to buy out the water company and send them packing. Funny how now you never hear about that option anymore isn’t it? Because this city couldn’t collect this damn Garbage Fee with out expensive billing system. People who oppose it or people who choose to buy their pills that month would simply not pay it. So, the city gets into bed with the water company, pays them $80K a year to collect it and if you short your water bill by $13, you get shut off. Nice huh? The water company never has to hear about being bought out and they collect a nice sum to process this tax.
This council has pulled the wool over our eyes. They did their famous shell game with figures and now they are collecting monies for totes we don’t have, knew we wouldn’t have and basically for no service provided what so ever. How would you like Sears pulling money out of your checking account for nothing? Hell, you wouldn’t. How would you like to pay $13 for absolutely nothing? You wouldn’t. But we are doing just that folks. Guess where millions will soon go? Warehouse district for one, the museum for another, and bonds sold for our kids kids to pay for a damn hotel we will never be able to afford to stay in.
Where are the lawyers? We need to file a class action suit and stop this repressive tax now! We need to stop giving taxpayer money away to private developers and owners. These people are millionaires or will be after they collect what we give away. The guy building the hotel and Sullivan. If these projects fail, they walk away and have lunch in the Keys. We, the working people, the retired people, the poor, are left to pay and clean up the mess, This has to stop. Priorities must be set. I would rather see 10 new cops added then a skywalk to anything.
This town can’t be this dumb. You can bet our elected officials think we are.
Where is the outrage????
12 comments:
I purchased a tote for myself for $60 from PDC instead of renting it for $2.50 per month when PDC took over as when calculating the amount in the long run it was cheaper to purchase then rent it. Several of us did this. I did the same with Waste Management. WM refunded me the purchase of the tote and took it back when PDC took over, which was very nice of them. I need to know what recourse I might have that I am having to pay to rent what I own? I don't need another tote as I only use the service once a month because I am elderly and don't have much trash. I was in shock when I received my water bill. It has gone from $26 to $40 per month so the water fee must have raised somewhat. I am gone most of the month and only home to use the water for two sink loads of dishes two showers and two loads of laundry per month. I also received my Comcast bill and it now has gone up $7.00 per month plus I can't use my VCR to record shows anymore. (I have to rent their DVR or whatever for $16.95 per month if I want to record shows). What I was paying a year ago for basic cable was about $14.00 and now the very same basic cable has had two increases in a year and it is $24.95. I now hear sewer wants to raise their rates. How are the elderly suppose to live? Can't someone get up a petition to do something about all this?
The answer is simple. The majority of council doesn't care. They do not have crime in their neighborhoods, none of them are poor. They have a "let them eat cake" attitude This has become the most corrupt that the city has been since Al Capone days, but even then, the city had plenty of police. Not so much now. If you paid attention to the State of the City address. The next budget item is to cut benefits for staff. This will weed out even more people, many of which actually do work pretty hard for the tax payers. I will lay my bottom dollar that they will not cut their own part time salaries and their own full time benefits and life long pensions. They will have more money to shuffle around to get Sullivan elected so he can go to springfield and bring back more tax dollars from a state that couldn't afford cab fair across town. That money will funneled through Heartland Partnerships where Spain will get a hefty bonus for bringing home the their slice of bacon from the pork. These people have lost their way with our money. about six months from election time you will see the "faux" concern, the stressing of the neighborhoods, the BS that many will lap up, those with money will go about their business hosting events and cocktale parties where the council members get loaded for free, and the rest of us will be collecting rain water to drink, picking dandelions for food, and hoping that medicine you just can no longer afford maybe will allow you a peaceful demise vs being shot or stabbed to death from the ever breeding thugs in this town.
Excellent comment Anon. The answer is simple. I have always thought that Spain working for the Heartland Partnerships was a huge conflict with his council seat. The items this council votes on and passes all put money in to the hands of the HP where Spain works.
Cable went up, Sewer is going up, the Garbage Fee more than doubled and you are right. Maybe lack of money for meds will thin out the population even more than the screaming exodus across the river because the thugs run most of the neighborhoods.
I really would like to know what "the deal" is between the city and IL-AWC besides the city paying $80,000 a year of taxpayer dollars to IL-AWC to collect the garbage fee(s). Seriously, if you pay your water bill but not your garbage fee, how does IL-AWC have the right or the power to shut off your water? Did the city give them some sort of authority to do shut you off if you don't pay? There is something seriously wrong with that if that arrangement does exist.
Why there are no lawsuits? Those who can afford the $13 don't care and those who can't afford the $13, can't afford the lawyers.
A "funny" aside. Back when they were getting ready to build O'Brien Field, a city councilman told someone "there is no city money involved in the building of the stadium".
A nicely parsed statement that ignored the million or so they were putting into site prep.
When politicians (on both sides) aren't lying, they're obfuscating.
Several shootings over the weekend. Any word from the council addressing crime? Nada. zip. nothing. Then they stood up with Sullivan and said he didn't ask for a dime for the warehouse district, yet he's been working for years to get that funded. dirty hands washing other dirty hands. Unbelievable.
Seriously, it would be concerning if the city purchased the ILAWC ... their track record is not impressive on purchasing baubles while the basics are left under-funded ... think police, infrastructure et al. Whatever your feelings are about ILAWC, at least water comes up of the faucet. Sad to take a minimalistic view of this situation.
Your head starts spinning at all the doublespeak that this group is not getting money when in fact that group is getting special money for their special projects from funds which shouldn't be touched or from the state or feds who are bleeding from financial mismanagement.
Seriously disturbing ... it has been that way for the past 20 or so years that I have lived here and it has only gotten worse ... more entrenched with horribly wrong decisions which only weaken our city instead of restoring our city.
Randall you need to run for office ... we need a change in the First!
I live in Peoria and agree that this isn't the fault of PDC and that citizens should place the blame where it deserves to be-on city officials. Regarding the hotel deal I hear the city will grant yet another extension to the developer. It would be nice if someone would take the time to investigate this instead of just publishing facts and figures that are given to them by the same leaders that gave us the totes, etc.
All I can say is "Morton, it really is better here!"
Larrynamvet...
I agree!
Y'all had a chance to vote Turner, Gulley and Spain out of office. Appears most Peoria voters are all talk.
Complaints about #150 a legion. Yet the incompetent reverend on the school board ran unopposed.
Larry & Walk - I'm selling and moving to Woodford ASAP. I fear Peoria is a lost cause. makes me sad.
Post a Comment