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Marla Marcinko
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TAB 7
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (PA)
December 8, 2005
Manager may suggest fee for garbage removal
Author: Reid R. Frazier
Free garbage removal in Penn Hills might soon be a thing of the past.
Municipal manager Marla Marcinko said she is considering ways to pass along costs of garbage
pickup to customers. The municipality currently pays $1.8 million per year to a hauler, which
comes out of the municipal garbage fund.
"The municipality provides or contributes many many services ... it's very difficult to cover all of
those without increasing costs," Marcinko said.
Garbage pick-up was singled out, along with the costs of street lighting and fire hydrants, as
services the municipality "provides or substantially subsidizes" and which it might have to seek
outside revenue for in Marcinko's budget message, released last week.
Marcinko's message recommends that council consider assessing a charge for trash removal,
which Penn Hills currently contracts with Greenridge Waste Services of Scottdale.
Marcinko said she hasn't discussed the plan with council and had no firm plan worked out.
Mayor Anthony DeLuca Jr. said he was not in favor of assessing a fee.
"What happens if somebody doesn't pay, and it doesn't get picked up? It will just sit there and
dogs will get into it," he said.
Municipalities that don't provide garbage collection either assess a quarterly or yearly fee or let
residents contract with a hauler.
Pittsburgh and Monroeville provide garbage collection. Wilkinsburg charges residents $140 per
year, while Plum charges $112 per year.
Paying extra for garbage didn't sit well with some residents.
"That's all we need," said Justine Masi, of Outlook Drive. "It would make me very unhappy, I'm
an 83-year-old widow on a fixed income. I'm not a hardship case, but at the same time, I
wouldn't like it."
The plan wasn't popular with Alyce Rote, 83, of Veronica Drive. "That's just another bill I have
to worry about," said Alyce Rote, 83, of Veronica Drive. "I struggle to pay my bills as it is, so I
would not be looking forward to adding another bill to that."
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