Monday, May 25, 2015

New Idea - Raise Fees!

  • Chicago homeowners have managed to avoid suburban-style garbage collection fees, but those “spoiled” days may be coming to an end, the newly elected chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus said.

    “I hate to say it. I know there’ll be a lot of pushback. But a nominal fee may be something we have to look at” to solve the $30 billion pension crisis, said Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th).

    “All over the country and in smaller municipalities, they do pay for garbage collection. In Chicago, free garbage collection is something we’ve become accustomed to. But just like not having a sales tax on services, those days may be over. We have to look at it to balance the books.”
We're trying to find the article posted last year some time, but it showed that garbage collection in Chicago runs something like $280 per ton. The suburbs number was under $70 per ton. If anyone knows where that article is. let us know. It was in Crain's or the Wall Street Journal or some other business paper.

It's almost as if City garbage is akin to transporting gold....kind of like the dead bodies where some Ohio company was moving bodies for $120 bucks per and they won the Chicago contract and moved dead Chicagoans at over $900 per stiff.

And of course, in the 6th Ward, if the citizens don't want to pay for garbage removal, they'll just throw it in the vacant lot next door or in the alley.

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65 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Won't pass...if a garbage fee goes through...the Pols won't be able to control the vote.

5/25/2015 12:44:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"In Chicago, free garbage collection is something we’ve become accustomed to."

I wouldn't exactly call it "free" when I pay well over five hundred dollars a month in property taxes.

Maybe we could start charging for frivolous 911 calls instead.

5/25/2015 01:07:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I forsee a "great Chicago garbage party " where angry chicagoans dump their trash at the office of their alderman .

5/25/2015 01:56:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The way this moron talks its as if Streets and San is free now. Pretty sure we pay more than a nominal charge for it already !

5/25/2015 02:06:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How about charge a fee for police service. Then you could do more with less......

5/25/2015 02:50:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"if the citizens don't want to pay for garbage removal, they'll just throw it in the vacant lot next door or in the alley."

Next Door? How many throw it in their own damned yard?

5/25/2015 03:08:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

$30 Billion Dollars.
2.7 million people.

Do the math.

$11,100 per Chicagoan. $1,000.00 per month should just about do it.

5/25/2015 03:18:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cool I'll just bring my garbage bags to work.

5/25/2015 04:39:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This shit ain't free! We already pay real estate taxes! I vote to cut the useless city council instead! They don't do shit for a part time job!

5/25/2015 05:41:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

link to huffington post article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/us/13cncgarbage.html?_r=2&ref=chicagonewscooperative

5/25/2015 06:33:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

NYT-12 Feb 2011. ATT reported as $200/ton

5/25/2015 06:57:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And I suppose his constituents will be exempt from those fees.

5/25/2015 07:03:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We already pay for garbage pickup and aldermens salary, etc... In the form of property taxes! How about we eliminate some dumbfuck aldermen? That would save on salaries and stop their voting on nonsense that they spend OUR tax dollars on.

5/25/2015 07:13:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In the first year after being elected, they always raise taxes and "fees". That is a Chicago tradition. What happened to all of the money the city generates for such basic city services?

As citizens we should be able to find out who all of the private contractors are and how much they receive for the services or products they offer the city. After all, it is our tax dollars. Private businesses like Wal Mart to Family Dollar to even a small mom and pop grocery store can track their expenditures easily. Why can't the city do the same and publish the results online? The citizens of Chicago really need to push back. If we don't and they keep taxing us, then we lose more tax paying citizens and then the city loses even more tax revenue. Once the cycle gets momentum, it is hard to stop.

5/25/2015 07:23:00 AM  
Blogger SpankDaddy said...

Raise fees? Anyone consider reducing costs?

5/25/2015 07:26:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Free" garbage pickup my ass.

What does this Dbag think I pay my property tax bill with - monopoly money?

Call the next case. Not a cop.

5/25/2015 07:31:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

will garbage crews pass by places that hadn't paid? how will this be enforced ?

5/25/2015 07:33:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here's the article...
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203476804576612851452362670

5/25/2015 07:43:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, he means the people in this city with jobs will pay a fee for garbage removal. Everyone else will remain free.

5/25/2015 08:03:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How about looking into those large apartment buildings which have 10 to 15 city garbage cans behind them. Perhaps they should just cut all city garbage service to apartment buildings? Make them all use private service.

5/25/2015 08:04:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This will be like police services in this city. Certain residents pay for all the services and certain residents use all the services. I can see the garbage piling up in 022, 008 & 016.

5/25/2015 08:24:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Really Shit-cago?? We pay for water (that naturally falls from the sky) and now we have to pay to have our garbage picked up by people who get paid to pick up the garbage. When is the "air" tax coming so I can limit the number of breaths I take??!!

5/25/2015 08:29:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Garbage collection costs

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/us/13cncgarbage.html?_r=3&ref=chicagonewscooperative

5/25/2015 08:37:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

WHAT ABOUT THE BLUE BIN recycling money?where does that go??

5/25/2015 08:50:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who is going to pay these fees?
Us, not them.

5/25/2015 09:10:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your garbage pick up was always included on you property tax bill. That was until a few years ago when that line item disappeared.

Now they can say we don't pay for it, so they can charge a fee.

Next it will be street light maintenance, Alley maintenance, rodent control, street cleaning and fleet maintenance.

5/25/2015 09:16:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why don't we just do what the federal government does and just produce more money out of thin air.

5/25/2015 09:54:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You damn well know the low-lifes in the ghettos wont be paying so that leaves the actual taxpayers responsible for their share.

5/25/2015 10:18:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Since when is garbage pickup free?

5/25/2015 10:57:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And when the non-working areas won't pay. They'll still get a pickup. Fuck you Rahm.

5/25/2015 11:11:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Another young kid gets in and creates more problems! Roderick look around all the billions spent, how much given away to none producing folks and peoples in your ward? Close the freebies "we be movin on up" at that point! Get with George "curious" Cardenas there ya go cut the council to 1/3 look here savings! You guys are dinosaurs extinct no ideas tax tax tax how about cutting to link card holders, illegals hey rod be a man do like Arizona 1 year welfare then no more! Bet you rod those welfare illegally here are getting on the trucks and coming here!

5/25/2015 11:20:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Chicagoans don't demand much from local government and that's pretty much what they get but if they start charging for garbage removal things are gonna get ugly, fast

5/25/2015 11:27:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

With the new garbage collection fee, how about a fee for having the police solve all of your life's problems. That would payoff all the pension debit plus repave all the city streets and alleys.

5/25/2015 12:18:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lets do it, but then the alderman could show "skin in the game" by resigning and persuading other alderman along with himself to resign you know in the interest of "shared sacrifice!" Hey Rod when you show the taxpayers and the police that the city is practicing budget austerity then and only then you have permission of your bosses the taxpayers to open your mouth OK! Look into this report back to us with your investigation!

* Frivolous lawsuits paid off
* McCormick place enough said
* Taxpayer paid depaul stadium pathetic team!
* Bike Lanes
* Riverwalk
* Maggie daley park
* Link card bonanza
* Illegals
* Building multi_million-billions in school funding Building how many charter schools why? but cutting teachers pay by 7% (STRIKE I would bet)
* Not funding obligations police pension 550 million due while the TIF piggyback has how many billion?
* On and On!

5/25/2015 12:19:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey sawyer you racist pos, who is going to pay the garbich fees let me guess I live in Edison park so I will along with the residents orielo park norwood park and mt greenwood do thing at any given moment the residents of Englewood, Austin of any south or west side ward will pay NO they 'll dump it in the alley.

5/25/2015 12:33:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The function of government is to maximize revenues through any means necessary. Alderman sawyer of the 6th ward proposal was criticized as oppressive affecting those with disabilities, the poor, minorities, women, recent immigrants, those afflicted with AIDS, those on assistance, the elderly, SSI recipients blah, blah, blah.

Aldermans sawyer reassured community activists that those receiving section 8 will be unaffected. He further related that those who won life’s lottery will be assessed according to government needs providing needed rubbish services sustenance to those who are not contributing to government’s fair share revenue efforts through gainful labor participation and the overwhelming subsequent taxation and "fees".

5/25/2015 01:06:00 PM  
Anonymous stash the polski guy said...

will likely be a line item on property tax bill. remember kids. property tax was not raised.

5/25/2015 01:10:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The City of Chicago has an unchecked spending problem. Money is power and these Ali Baba rahm and his band of 50 thieving aldermen put any criminal enterprise to shame. Their theiving enterprise is legal cause they make the rules. They own state county and municipal governments passing out money to those givng the blessing in the the cabal known as "elected, representative" government.

5/25/2015 01:12:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who is profiting from those Blue Carts??? Top dollar is being paid for paper, aluminum, plastic, steel etc. One would be naive to think it some political, connected firm led by a straight "D" political contributing type.

5/25/2015 01:36:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

light bulb goes off
blue can recycle garbage pick up , like the suburbs has one person driving and emptying can , very efficient
time to privatize the entire garbage pick up crews , city will save 2/3 of what they pay , no cost for trucks , MAINTENANCE on the vehicles . The private guy isn't talking on his cell phone , he is working
also let's get like new York city and LA , 16 aldercreatures , mayor can be the tie breaker if necessary

5/25/2015 01:45:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Link card holders do not pay for any thing !

5/25/2015 02:53:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

life residency now this is the time..we are gonna get hit with suburban level taxes, might as well live in the burbs!

5/25/2015 03:03:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I GOTZ some ghetto ass neighbors down the block and they have a recycle blue can filled with everything but recyclables.

1st the city put a sticker on the can

next was sticker 2 and 3 with instructions.

4th the garbage men flipped the can with garbage in it and left it for 2 weeks.

5th garbage men had to pick up trash because of complaints.

and the problem was solved how?
The garbage men pick up the blue can regardless of the garbage inside.

Now multiply that in all those in the HOOD rental and you will see a problem.

5/25/2015 03:16:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fee? Raise property taxes if it's necessary. That way I can write it off my state and federal tax return. A fee means new billing, which means money wasted on collection, contracts, scofflaws etc. What's next something akin to vehicle stickers for garbage cans? Is that gang kid/artist going to win the contest for designing them.

Better yet how about some casinos and doing higher density developments in the locations where people want to live.

Try to get some taxpaying folks to stay in the city or move in. They aren't going to move into Roseland, but you know some other hoods are desirable.

5/25/2015 03:46:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can see my new garbage bill saying..."Would you like to contribute to the destitute who cant pay for garbage collection?"

We will all check the box No, and then they will pass a law mandating it on our garbage collection bills. It will be sold and passed on as a benefit to the safety of women and children in poor communities.
If they do this I am going to drop all my garbage off in the dumpsters at work, before work, like I have been doing for years with big stuff...They may not take a computer, or TV at a residence, but I have never had one rejected at a police station...Word to the Wise here folks...Just a hint of the civil disobedience coming soon to a block near you...The city sticker was a road use tax. See how well government used that money.

5/25/2015 04:44:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Does anyone know who gets the money from the cities recycling ?

5/25/2015 05:25:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Will the shitheads have to pay ?

5/25/2015 05:26:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We already pay for garbage pick up with our taxes...who are you kidding? Chicago doesn't do anything for free. Unless you're one of the non paying hacks that are killing this city already. Then I'm sure there will be a waiver of some kind.This city will take your last hard earned dollar if they knew you had one. Decrease the alderman. Start there first.

5/25/2015 05:39:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It will be part of the water bill, like it is in many suburbs. If it isn't paid, water gets shut off.

To the guy thinking large apartment buildings and condos get free garbage--wrong. They have to contract with a private contractor and apply to the city for a rebate for a portion of the garbage collection paid as part of the property tax. A rebate the city is years behind in paying. Essentially the apartments and condos are paying twice for garbage collection.

5/25/2015 06:44:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Look at your tax bill. Streets and San functions, I.e. garbage collection and snow removal functions are already taxed and payed for by every taxpayer. This is double taxation.

5/25/2015 07:25:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My garbage pick up is tied into my water bill. One bill. You don't pay, no water for you.

5/25/2015 08:24:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Chiraq needs cash. Raise city sticker fees & eliminate senior citizen discounts. City Council should pass toilet paper and pampers tax. City Sales Tax on all Lottery Ticket Sales. Turn Chiraq into the American Monte Carlo!

5/25/2015 09:03:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Brilliant. A garbage tax is just one more reason to head for the 'burbs or downstate. This city keeps finding "another foot" to shoot itself in.

5/26/2015 12:04:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ENACT A CITY INCOME TAX FOR ALL WHO LIVE OUTSIDE CHI-RAQ AND MAKES MONEY HERE!

In other words; if you want to work in Chicago then fuckin' live in Chicago (or pay an income tax)

5/26/2015 08:11:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

All I get for my tax dollars are GARBAGE PICKUP and snow removal and for that I pay $6000.00 per year. I'm outta this God Forsaken hellhole.

5/26/2015 11:45:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Mayor Emmanuel and our overpaid Alderman (who only represent on average 57,000 citizens compared to New York alderman who represent 165,000 citizens. Yes that's right, our alderman only represent 1/3 the amount of people that New York alderman do. Maybe that's why their police pension is funded by at least double what our pension fund is funded at.)
Our city does not have an income problem it has a spending problem and a corruption problem. The income generated by our city would be more than ample if you did not spend money you did not have. Imagine you were a general contractor building a new home and you and the owner just agreed on a finished price on the home and signed a contract. Would you as the general contractor question the quality and amount of work done for the amount you agreed upon with the sub-contractor. You bet your ass you would because any discrepancies or deficiencies would come out of your pocket. Problem here in Chicago is there is no contract enforcement. There is no General contractor to make sure that we get what we paid for because our mayor and alderman believe that they have an unlimited balance in their checkbook. If we as taxpayers operated our household budgets in the same reckless manner, we would all be filing for bankruptcy. Simple solution STOP SPENDING OUR FUTURE TAX DOLLARS AND PAY OFF YOUR DEBTS. Only problem with socialism, you eventually run out of other peoples money.

5/26/2015 01:42:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If it moves tax it! Maybe the good aldermen and his colleagues since they work part time and get a huge full time salary could work picking up garbage and show streets and sanitation how to work more efficiently, that way no extra taxes! How about it rod and crew?

5/26/2015 03:28:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Link card holders do not pay for any thing !"

5/25/2015 02:53:00 PM

A LINK card can be used only to buy food -- and not restaurant meals, either.

A single person gets maybe $187.00/month -- and sometimes far less; IDHS is denying the hearings mandated by law. They do not answer their phones, do not answer mail, and basically do whatever they want. Some single, elderly people -- the most vulnerable -- have been cut by $75.00/month with no hearing and no explanation given. It can take OVER TWO YEARS of effort and struggle to obey their rules and even get a recipient's address changed if they move -- and then they make sure to f__k the person in revenge for the person having bothered them.

Oh -- and that "Obamaphone" everyone keeps roaring about? Available for maybe $4.99 at a drugstore. Zero street value -- all the thugs are walking around Instagramming everything on the 4G cloud, using the latest top-line Apple or Android to plot their mass attacks on shopping centers and so forth.

"Section 8?" A lottery held every several years, with generally no warning to the public until the last minute. Tens of thousands of people on the waiting list, most applicants don't make it.

Just keepin' it real.

Anyone expecting season tickets to some kind of amusement park has a big surprise coming -- and it's going to get worse.

5/26/2015 06:21:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
"Link card holders do not pay for any thing !"

5/25/2015 02:53:00 PM

A LINK card can be used only to buy food -- and not restaurant meals, either.

A single person gets maybe $187.00/month -- and sometimes far less; IDHS is denying the hearings mandated by law. They do not answer their phones, do not answer mail, and basically do whatever they want. Some single, elderly people -- the most vulnerable -- have been cut by $75.00/month with no hearing and no explanation given. It can take OVER TWO YEARS of effort and struggle to obey their rules and even get a recipient's address changed if they move -- and then they make sure to f__k the person in revenge for the person having bothered them.

Oh -- and that "Obamaphone" everyone keeps roaring about? Available for maybe $4.99 at a drugstore. Zero street value -- all the thugs are walking around Instagramming everything on the 4G cloud, using the latest top-line Apple or Android to plot their mass attacks on shopping centers and so forth.

"Section 8?" A lottery held every several years, with generally no warning to the public until the last minute. Tens of thousands of people on the waiting list, most applicants don't make it.

Just keepin' it real.

Anyone expecting season tickets to some kind of amusement park has a big surprise coming -- and it's going to get worse.

5/26/2015 06:21:00 PM

No one said the link card itself paid for all sorts of toys. That post said 'link card holders'...

5/26/2015 09:38:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So the days of enjoying "free" garbage pick-up may be coming to an end, or is this one of those deals like sidewalk replacemant; certain neighborhoods pay while others don't?

Either way, it's not a fee. It's a TAX. And it's a tax on top of an already-levied tax.


rb

5/26/2015 11:12:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"No one said the link card itself paid for all sorts of toys. That post said 'link card holders'..."

5/26/2015 09:38:00 PM

...and made no sense.

5/27/2015 08:29:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"In Chicago, free garbage collection is something we’ve become accustomed to."

"I wouldn't exactly call it "free" when I pay well over five hundred dollars a month in property taxes."

5/25/2015 01:07:00 AM

Yes, and renters often pay more property tax per square foot than homeowners do -- added into the rent -- and then also pay for private garbage collection -- added into the rent.

Like you say, people are getting hit twice already -- and it still isn't enough.

5/27/2015 08:37:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No one owns a home. You just rent it from the government (while you pay the mortgage too). Slip up, and some shonnicker can grease right in there and grab the place for $40.00 back taxes at the auction.

5/27/2015 08:47:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Top dollar is being paid for paper, aluminum, plastic, steel etc
=========================
Many places actually have to pay to get paper recycled as there is not a big market for it.

Aluminum is pretty much the only thing that even breaks even on recycling.

Steel can be recycled but there is not a whole lot of steel in residential trash.

Some plastic can be readily recycled, others not.

Part of the problem is that all the recycling comes in as one chunk and then has to be sorted to be sold or otherwise disposed of.

Most places it is actually less expensive to just put it in the landfill, but the feds no longer allow that.

5/27/2015 11:00:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The city council will be looking at creative ways to raise money. In the burbs you pay high taxes and still pay for garbage collection, and the taxes in Chicago are very low compared to other cities .

5/30/2015 06:22:00 AM  

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