Cudahy : Trash Hauling Fee Sought to Pay for Street Damage

City Manager Gerald Caton will ask the City Council on Monday for authority to negotiate with commercial trash haulers to recover the cost of damage done by refuse trucks to city streets. The money would be collected in the form of a fee on a percentage of gross receipts.

Caton’s move signals a compromise with 11 trash haulers that do business in Cudahy. Earlier in February, some of the smaller haulers were angered when Caton accepted proposals from seven companies for an exclusive franchise to pick up refuse from commercial and large residential buildings.

The city already has a franchise for removal of trash from residential buildings with fewer than five units. Caton and Assistant City Manager Maynard Law say the push to franchise the rest of Cudahy’s trash-hauling accounts began after they received a report from an independent management institute that showed refuse trucks were causing almost $100,000 in damage to city streets every year. A city fact sheet on the franchise proposal also lists concerns about the lack of regulation of the haulers and the presence of trash bins and noisy trucks on the streets seven days a week.

In two meetings with trash haulers, Caton found that their main concern was that the smaller companies were being pushed out of business by cities that set up exclusive franchises. Caton said the 11 companies he talked to are ready to accept the imposition of a fee, as long as the residential haulers also pay their share for damage to city streets, and they have agreed that trash bins should not be left on city streets. The number of days on which trash collection will be permitted is still up for negotiation.