Terre Haute mayor wants city to consider trash-service fee

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - The mayor of Terre Haute says the city should consider adding a fee for trash service as it faces a deficit.

Mayor Duke Bennett told the Tribune-Star (http://bit.ly/18fqpSA ) that a $9.25 trash-hauling fee would raise about $2.6 million, and that providing the service costs Terre Haute $2.5 million a year. He said the city is seeing $9 million less in revenue annually since a cap on property taxes was approved by Indiana voters in 2010.

The Terre Haute City Council would have to approve a fee for trash service.

"We have to go back and revisit the trash fee," Bennett said Wednesday. "Every city has a trash fee but us, pretty much, in the state."

The mayor had expected a $3 million advance payment California-based Powerdyne in a deal to make sewer sludge into diesel fuel. But the payment was delayed as the deal's contractual payments from Terre Haute without city council approval drew questions.

"We were counting on that funding; that was our plan, but it didn't happen," Bennett said. "We are still counting on that this year, but it didn't help us last year."

Terre Haute's general fund had a negative cash and investment balance of $5.4 million at the end of 2014, according to the Indiana State Board of Accounts.

The city has used short-term loans repaid from future property tax collections to help cover the deficit.

Bennett said the city isn't considering asking for help from the state Distressed Unit Appeals Board. Going that route could give Terre Haute special taxing authority and low-interest loans, and the board could appoint an emergency manager.

The mayor said he's skeptical that the Vigo County Council would pass an increase in county income taxes, another funding option that would benefit Terre Haute.

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Information from: Tribune-Star, http://www.tribstar.com