Perkins Administration Makes Case for Garbage Fee

Ben Riggs, Communications Manager for Mayor Adrian Perkins, talks with 101.7 / 710 KEEL's Robert J Wright and Erin McCarty about Mayor's proposed $18 per month "Clean City Fee," a payment that would go to improve Shreveport's sanitation service and shore up the flagging reserve fund.

Mayor Perkins introduced the idea of the fee in a recent op-ed in The Times:

"Sanitation workers struggle to keep pace with the holiday schedule every year. It’s not because they are bad at their jobs. It’s because they’re understaffed, and they’re understaffed because Shreveport does not offer competitive wages. As a result, sanitation workers go across the river in search of better pay.

I have repeatedly stated that my administration is committed to both a short-term and long-term solution to this problem. Three weeks later, crews are caught up. Now, it is time to resolve this issue permanently.

Such user fees are common — nearly universal — in other cities. For example, residents in Bossier pay $24 for sanitation services, and in New Orleans they pay $36. Shreveport is virtually the only mid-sized Southern city subsidizing solid waste, and we do so to the tune of $8.4 million a year.

The proposed monthly fee will generate $14 million in additional revenue, which can be used to raise the pay of our sanitation workers and bolster the city's reserves".

To read Mayor's Perkins complete Times op-ed, JUST CLICK HERE!

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Perkins Administration Makes Case for Garbage Fee [VIDEO]