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Collection facts
Quick facts about garbage collection:
City-run garbage service will include twice-weekly pickup.
Once a week, haulers will pick up leaves and limbs, recycling and bulky waste.
Customers scheduled to receive new service will be notified with an insert in their next water bill.
New customers will see a line-item charge for $81.25 on their 2001 property tax bills for five months of prorated service. Next year, that charge will be $195 for 12 months of service at $16.25 per month.
Customers currently receiving city-run garbage collection will not see any changes or experience additional charges for trash pickup. The $16.25 per month charge will not appear on their property tax bills and instead will be deducted from their urban millage rate.
As part of their contract with the city, new haulers will introduce themselves to customers through a mailer or flyer.
Augusta commissioners might amend garbage contracts to incorporate new collection areas. Communities that want to be included in a city pickup area should call their commissioner.
City trash collection is mandatory.
For more information, call the Augusta Cares hot line at 821-2300.
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Now that city-managed garbage collection has been extended to some outlying parts of Richmond County, officials with the Department of Public Works say they're working to make the transition as seamless as possible for their newest customers.
With service slated to start in little more than two months, the city's next step is getting the word out.
Augusta commissioners voted last week to approve extending garbage service outside the former city limits. Beginning August 1, haulers who have contracts with the city will service nearly 23,000 new customers.
''Like anything, when you're dealing with 38,000 folks, I'm sure there's going to be hiccups,'' said Drew Goins, the assistant director of public works for the city. ''But we've enjoyed the patience of our citizens in other ventures like this, and we're sure that they'll be able to cope with any hiccups that we have on this, too.''
Customers will be notified officially that they are now included in the city's trash collection district in their next water bills. An insert will tell them the facts about city-managed trash pickup and remind them that service will start at the beginning of August.
Each individual contractor will send a fact sheet to customers, which will detail which days their trash will be collected, what kind of trash is acceptable and other basic information.
Garbage cans will start being delivered to homes near the end of July.
City garbage collection currently services 15,212 customers and costs about $3.5 million per year. The expanded collection will double service to an estimated 38,140 customers and cost more than $7.2 million annually.
The scheduled two-month transition from private service to a city-managed collection has haulers and some of their customers wondering about the level of service they can expect from city-managed service.
Donald Comer, general manager for Delco Sanitation & Associates Inc., says his customers know what to expect when he arrives at their homes twice a week to collect their garbage.
''I pick up the way I would if I was picking up for me,'' he said.
Mr. Comer's company serves about 500 homes in Richmond, Columbia and Burke counties. The two-man operation operates out of a pickup truck.
Although his business is too small to have been eligible to bid on contracts for city-managed garbage collection, he is among a handful of smaller companies that will likely be subcontracted to do work for larger haulers. He said he hopes the customers he loses to the city will be balanced out by his subcontract work.
Despite his job security, he says some of his customers are wary of what government garbage collection will mean for them.
''We don't need service but about once a week because it's just me and my wife,'' said Frederick Bennefield, a south Richmond County resident for more than 20 years and a Delco Sanitation customer for the past six months. ''I think a private hauler would be better for us.''
Reach Heidi Coryell at (706) 823-3215.
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