The Tri-County Journal
& Chattahoochee Chronicle
PO Box 850, 71 Webb Lane
Buena Vista, GA 31803
229-649-6397
tjournal@alltel.net

By PETRA JONES
   The Marion County Commission voted during its recent monthly meeting to begin weekly curbside garbage pickup service this fall, with the service being paid for by user fees. Each household will pay an estimated $15 to $16 per month for the service.
   The Commission is contracting with Trans Waste Services, the same company that provides garbage pick-up for the City of Buena Vista. The service is expected to begin in early October.
   During the first week of September residents will begin receiving their trash receptacles. Residents will be provided with 95-gallon trashcans on wheels with tilt lids. It will take approximately three to four weeks to get all residents their receptacles.
   Currently residents in the unincorporated area are responsible for hauling their garbage to one of numerous trash dumpsters in various locations around the county. The county must then pay to have the dumpsters emptied and the trash hauled to the landfill in Taylor County. 
   Commissioners say they made the decision to transition to curbside garbage pickup after “much deliberation and negotiation.” Last year, the current system cost the taxpayers more than $64,000 for leases on the garbage trucks in addition to more than $108,000 paid to Taylor County for disposal of the trash. That does not include the maintenance and fuel for the garbage trucks, labor, nor the costs of the dumpsters.
   “As your elected officials, we believe this decision is in the best interest of the taxpayers of Marion County,” the commissioners said in a statement released about the decision (see the full statement in the “Letters to the Editor” section on Page 4).
   At this time, the commissioners are discussing the most cost efficient way of billing county residents for this service.  Residents will be receiving more information about delivery routes, pick-up procedures and costs in the near future.