Council members announce strong, bipartisan support for Mayor Henry’s rate cutting ordinance

News release from Fort Wayne City Councilwoman Karen Goldner (D-2nd):

Council members announce strong, bipartisan support for Mayor Henry’s rate cutting ordinance
City Council Members Goldner, Hines and Bender to Co-Author Ordinance At Mayor’s Request, New Survey Shows Rates Are Lower Than Other Cities

(July 28, 2011) – Today, Fort Wayne City Council members Karen Goldner (D-2nd District), Glynn Hines (D-6th District) and Marty Bender (R-At-Large) joined Mayor Henry in co-authoring his ordinance to cut garbage and recycling rates for residents by 1 million dollars. The council members expressed their strong, bipartisan support for the Mayor’s ordinance and pledged to do all they can to ensure its speedy adoption by City Council.

“Along with Councilmen Hines and Bender, I am proud to join with Mayor Henry to support this million dollar rate decrease for residents,” said Councilwoman Goldner. “Through our efforts on the Solid Waste Task Force, the hard work of the city administration, and the overwhelming participation of residents in the recycling program, we’ve been able to cut costs and generate incredible savings — which we can now pass on to Fort Wayne families. We’re eager to support the Mayor’s million dollar rate cut for residents and see it quickly adopted by the City Council.”

Council members Goldner and Hines both served on the Solid Waste Task Force and detailed how this panel implemented an open, competitive bidding process for contracts, which the city projects will save half a million dollars:

[list type=”black”]
[li]In the past, solid waste providers bid on a single contract, which included all garbage and recycling services.[/li]
[li]Under the direction of the Task Force, the city opened the bidding process, and required providers to compete for the four separate elements of the service: recycling processing, recycling collection, garbage processing and garbage collection.[/li]
[li]This prompted 5 companies to bid for the elements of Fort Wayne’s solid waste contract, driving down costs per tonnage and allowing the city save a projected half a million dollars.[/li]
[/list]

Additionally, the council members unveiled a new study, showing that Fort Wayne garbage rates are actually lower than comparable communities. The survey, by Gershman, Brickner and Bratton, compared Fort Wayne’s average monthly cost per household for waste services against other cities equivalent in size and services. Resident’s recycling and garbage costs are lower than the following cities:

Source: GB&B Review and Procurement Survey Results, Compiled for the City of Fort Wayne Indiana. Updated: July 2011

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