Naperville's 'take all' waste system remains free

Naperville residents can continue to discard unlimited amounts of trash, at least through April 2015.

Council members, in an effort to save money in the coming years, had considered limiting residents to putting on the curb either one or two "carts" - the special containers that can be lifted and dumped by a garbage truck, rather than manually.

Currently, 4,441 residents have two carts and there are at least 300 customers with four carts or more.

City Manager Doug Krieger, however, said no cost savings were discovered and that the "take all" garbage collection system that residents are accustomed to will continue under the city's new five-year $5,171,860 contract with Allied Waste Services. The bid averages a cost of $9.73 per house per month or $.67 more per house per month, or about $800,000 more than the current rate.

Councilman Dick Furstenau pushed for the council to exercise its option to extend the current contract for one year at the price of about $9.06 per household and renegotiate the remaining years of the contract next year. But Mayor George Pradel and other council members were less optimistic about the potential of future costs negotiated later.

"My thought is that we should go out for a longer time because I think the prices are just going to go up and up and up and up," said Pradel. "I think we need to lock them in for the next five years because you never know what's going to happen."

Chief Procurement Officer Michael Bevis agreed and recommended locking in the five-year bid.

"I'm a conservative," he said. "I think a bird in the hand is worth more than the risk of next year."

Previously the council had discussed the possibility of a refuse collection fee of about $5 to be added to residents' utility bills. They said Tuesday that the discussion will be continued at the Jan. 25, 2010, revenue workshop.