Gwinnett Buzz

Gwinnett County has selected two haulers for its socialized garbage program which is slated to begin January 1, 2009.

Advanced Disposal Services Atlanta has been awarded the contract for four zones in the northern half of the county. Waste Pro Georgia, a subsidiary of Florida-based Waste Pro America, will service the county’s four southern zones.

Actually, I would prefer Advanced, so I think I will go with them instead.  What’s that?  I cannot choose?  My only option in Loganville is Waste Pro?  Ok.  Thanks, Gwinnett commissioners.  I am glad I had you to step in and help me from having to make such a hard decision.  But next time, before you come over to hold my hand, investigate the concept of “freedom of choice.”

The standardized pricing information has been set as well:

Initial cost for the service, which begins Jan. 2, will be $20.45 a month for trash and recycling. Yard-waste pickup will cost an additional $10 a month. Billing for the first six months will be handled by the hauling companies. In June, the fee for trash and recycling service will drop to $17.86 a month and will be billed on residential property tax notices.

Let’s consider the cost impact of this change in my case.  Previously, my quarterly bill from Allied Waste was $54.70.  For the fourth quarter of 2008, Allied increased my bill by $23.80 to cover their expenses related to being forced to terminate their existing customer relationships in Gwinnett County.  For the first six months of 2009, my quarterly rate will be $61.35.  This represents a price increase of $6.65 for each of the first two quarters in 2009.  Thus, before the enhanced socialized garbage program begins on July 1, 2009, the Gwinnett County Commission will have effectively increased my “taxes” by $37.10.  No, that is not a lot of money for me and many others.  However, there are homeowners to whom that represents an important amount of money.  Surely, though, given the promised “efficiencies” and “energy savings” of the new program, we homeowners will recover this increase in short order.  Right?

Starting July 1, the new quarterly rate of $53.58 goes into effect.  This represents a savings for me of a whole $1.12 per quarter!  Imagine my excitement that my freedom of choice has been yanked away and I am only compensated with about a buck per month!  At that rate, it would take nearly eight and a half years - yes YEARS - for me to break even with socialized garbage! So much for there being any cost savings in this program for me and other Allied Waste customers.  (And before, someone says that the commission did not require Allied to charge the termination fee, the only reason they are doing so is the Solid Waste Management Plan.  I think it is fair to blame our commissioners.)

Wow!  I tell ya, I really feel like our commissioners have the best interests of Gwinnett residents at heart!  Thanks to these nanny-state commissioners, come 2017, I will be able to get a cup of coffee every four months or so thanks to the cost savings arranged by our commissioners!  Also, I do not have to struggle considering which waste company to use.  Furthermore, I will get a whole ten extra minutes of quiet each week thanks to fewer garbage trucks in my neighborhood!  (Never mind the fact that they do those pickups while most of my neighbors and I will be at work and wouldn’t be impacted even if there a hundred garbages driving up and down my street!)

The reality is that we are stuck with this plan at this point.  I doubt these commissioners would admit their mistake even if they could get out of the contracts which I doubt.  However, I would urge Gwinnettians to consider the contrast between free market and socialized services and apply this lesson to possible intiatives on the national level for socialized medicine.  The government may promise you the world, but after they strip you of your economic freedom, reality does not live up to the picture they painted.  Fortunately, for those of us in Gwinnett, garbage collection is far less critical than our healthcare.

Tags: Advanced Disposal Services Atlanta, Allied Waste, Bert Nasuti, business, Charles Bannister, consumer, free market, freedom of choice, garbage, government, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful, Gwinnett County Commission, healthcare, Kevin Kenerly, Lorraine Green, Mike Beaudreau, Waste Pro America

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