Terre Haute residents will be able to speak up on the proposal of adding trash fees during public forums and the city is only 40 percent complete with city water upgrades.
On this week's installment of Ask The Mayor, Mayor Duke Bennett addresses these issues, LGBT legislation and more. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: City Council meeting planned Thursday night and last month we talked about how the city needs more revenue. Since then have you had time to talk with the council to see where you plan to get that extra revenue?
Bennett: The solid waste, trash fee has always been at the top of our list and we intend to bring this up in council the next couple of months, as soon as we finalize the ordinance.
Hren: How does the trash fee work in terms of helping the general budget?
Bennett: We have about a $33 million annual general fund budget. And in that budget is a $2.6 million line item for our trash contract with Republic Services. So what will happen is, we will implement this fee then all the funds we collect will go into a non-reverting fund to pay for the trash contract. So in essence, you're reducing the general fund by $2.6 million.
Hren: How much do you think that will help in terms of the budget deficit?
Bennett: It's a big one. It balances our general fund basically so we're ensured with a balance budget every year. That's huge, and so that goes a long way in terms of dealing with the shortfalls of property tax caps.
Hren: And this is not to be confused with storm water fees - those would go to unfunded EPA mandates that the city has to be in compliance with?
Bennett: Right now through your sewer bills, we do storm water projects. The problem is there isn't enough money to do much on the storm water side because we had to put all the money into the plant and infrastructure. What's next with our treatment plant it takes 40 percent of our problem and deals with it. We still have another 60 percent we have to deal with where water goes directly into the river. So there's many more projects to come.
