City okays 5 percent trash hike

Garbage rates will soon be going up after the Clarendon Board of Aldermen approved Ordinance 420 during last week’s city meeting on November 13.

City Administrator Lambert Little said the rate hike will be a five percent increase on all accounts and will generate about $10,000 per year for the city.

Little said the sanitation services ought to be a net revenue stream for the city but should at least break even. Maintenance costs are rising in the sanitation department, he said, due to aging equipment that is breaking down at the same time.

“We cannot maintain our equipment right now,” Little said. “Last year we bought and re-built a used truck with grant money. We desperately need two more trucks, but they cost about $200,000 each and have life spans of about 10 years.

Little had sought a 30 percent increase in sanitation fees last year, and the administrator still says Clarendon could help its sanitation department by recycling more, which brings in some revenue to the city.

The new rates are detailed in a public notice in this week’s Enterprise. Commercial customers with a shared 1½-yard Dumpster will see their rates increase by 95¢ per month, a shared three-yard Dumpster fee will increase $1.90, and a shared residential Dumpster will go up 83¢.

In other city business last week, aldermen approved an application for a solid waste grant that, if awarded, would pay for 36 three-yard Dumpsters for recycling. Little says if the city were to get those new Dumpsters, the best of the retired recycling Dumpsters would be repurposed for trash service.

The board approved a resolution authorizing the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation to submit a grant application to the Texas Department of Transportation for funds to pay for the Phase Two interior rehabilitation of the Mulkey Theatre for use as a movie theatre and visitor center. The CEDC would be responsible for coming up with a 20 percent match for the grant.