Preview: Should Canton Seniors Pay More for Garbage?

The Canton City Council may get an earful tonight from some of the city's seniors, who are staring at the possibility of a $3.50 hike in their monthly garbage bills.

While Canton's budget already includes the increase, Mayor Gene Hobgood said at the Sept. 6 council meeting that the change should be approved via a separate resolution. If that happens tonight, seniors and the disabled could see their monthly garbage bills rise from $7.50 to $11, which is still lower than the $16.50 a month that all other customers pay.

This isn't the first time that the council has discussed charging seniors more for the service. In May 2011, Council member Bill Bryan said the city should level the playing field and bill seniors $10 a month for garbage pick up.

Council members Amelia Rose, Jack Goodwin, John Beresford, Pat Tanner, and Bob Rush opposed the idea, which Bryan proposed around the same time that city officials voted to raise water and sewer rates 30 percent.

Hobgood also wasn't a fan of the plan. Considering the city collected more than it spent on sanitation, he didn't see the need for the increase.

"This is a small increase," Hobgood wrote in a May 18, 2011, Local Voices blog post, "but coupled with other proposed increases, especially water and sewer fees, just adds to the monthly cost of our seniors, most of whom are on a fixed income."

Open the PDF under the photo attached to this story for the complete agenda. Return to Canton-Sixes Patch at 6 p.m. to watch the meeting live.

Related content

• May 5, 2011: Live: Canton City Council Meeting
• May 18, 2011: Senior Garbage Rates Going Up?
  
• May 19, 2011: Sewer, Water Rates Raised 30%
• May 20, 2011: Sunday Alcohol Sales Tabled, Water Rates Raised

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