An unhappy council raises garbage fee

SMITHFIELD — Here’s the short of it: Starting next month, households will pay another 34 cents more per month for trash pickup.

“That comes out to $4.08 per customer per year,” Town Manager Michael Scott told the Town Council on July 16.

The budget the council passed in June did not include an increase in the monthly trash fee. But then came a letter from the county, Scott said.

“We received notice from Johnston County on June 25 that they were increasing their solid waste tipping fee $3 per ton,” he said. “We had already approved our budget and our fee schedule.”

The increase from the county changes things, Scott said. “In order to stay status quo with our budget, we would need to increase those fees by the 34 cents,” he said.

With the change, the monthly fee will climb from $18.21 to $18.55.

Council members saw no choice but to pass the county increase along to Smithfield customers, but they were unhappy with the late notice.

Mayor Andy Moore, for one, wanted to know why the county waited to notify the town. “I mean, they have a budget just like we have a budget, and it’s due at the end of June,” he said.

Scott said he couldn’t answer the mayor’s question. “I do not know,” he said.

Late notice of a price change is no way to do business, said Councilman Sloan Stevens, who works in his family’s business, Stevens Sausage Co. “I have to do pricing on my private job, and if I were to send something like that into Walmart or Food Lion, they’d laugh at me and throw it back in my face,” he said.

Still, the council OK’d the increase, which will show up on customers’ bills next month.

“We would put this into effect the first billing period of August to coincide with the same time period that Johnston County is increasing the fees to the town,” Scott said.

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