New costs senior citizens can't afford

In reading the article about the rising cost of trash removal in the March 25 Daily Herald, I find I must vent my disagreement concerning this new cost for removal of my garbage and trash. I feel citizens of Wheaton already pay enough for this service from Waste Management.

I am in my sixties and on a retirement income; therefore the new cost for this trash removal would be detrimental to me. It will hinder my lifestyle in such areas as buying food to eat and some other essentials of life. I will soon be paying taxes for a school to be built for which I did not vote, and now I will be subjected to rising rates for trash removal. I find it hard to believe that there is no senior citizen trash/garbage removal rate. Also, I do not want a 64-gallon recycling bin: I can hardly manage the one I have. I believe in recycling and do it faithfully.

Please enlighten me: how can the Wheaton City Council approve of this rate increase without some public feedback? Why do I, as a longtime citizen of Wheaton, have to sit back and take this rate without a fight? The new rate will be a financial hardship on me as it will be to all the other senior citizens who reside in Wheaton and live in their own homes.

I am in total agreement with Councilmen Howard Levine and Tom Mouhelis who have voiced their disagreement of the cost and said they could not support the change. I would like to hear the long-term benefits that Assistant City Manager Mike Dzugan believes we all would get from this new system. I sincerely hope that the rest of the Wheaton City Council come to their senses and do not approve of this new rate for trash removal.

Bonnie Bauler Wheaton