JIPSD Hearing: Garbage Pickup

The James Island PSD is holding a public hearing on its budget on Monday, June 9 at 6 PM at the Commissioners’ meeting room at Signal Point Rd.   The meeting follows at 7:00.   This will be their second and final reading (vote) on their budget.

The proposed budget is based upon shifting garbage service from twice a week to once a week.   In my view, this is the wrong time to make such a change.   Much as with the one mil (2%) tax hike of last year, this move hurts our competition for residents between the District and the City of Charleston.   Approximately 1/3 of the residents of the District remain in unincorporated Charleston County.   These are people who used to be in the Town and who we are working to get back into the Town.  The City of Charleston continues to encourage them to annex.   When the Town wins the legal changes needed to bring them back, we can expect the competition to intensify.

One reason many James Islanders give for staying in the  District and not annexing to the City of Charleston is that they don’t want to lose their twice a week garbage service.    My worry is that if the JIPSD shifts to once a week service, then some of those District residents will decide they might as well annex to the City of Charleston.    The garbage service will be the same.  Those people will be lost to the District and the Town.

Many of the decision makers at the District seem little concerned with this prospect.   Robert Wise, the District Administrator, explained to me that because the JIPSD continues to borrow from the Federal Government (which has massive debts of its own,) the JIPSD will be able force the City of Charleston to pay it money to replace any reduction in taxes when residents leave the District for the City.    The JIPSD’s Attorney, Trent Kerndole, stated at a community meeting on Battery Island last week that even if residents annex to the City of Charleston, the JIPSD would still be there to provide services,  including picking up their garbage.   Since the purpose of the meeting was to explain the benefits of returning to the Town, that was hardly helpful.   Former Town Councilman Cubby Wilder, who lives in the area, had just been passionately explaining why residents should not join the City of Charleston, but remain in the District and rejoin the Town.   He  was emphasizing the twice a week garbage pickup.

Of course, we all know that City garbage trucks run through our neighborhoods once a week and pick up the garbage from the green City cans given to everyone who has annexed.   Why did the JIPSD Attorney tell these District residents that if they annex to the City of Charleston, the District would continue to pick up their garbage (presumably twice a week?)     While false, the element of truth is that the City of Charleston will pay the JIPSD what it would cost to pick up the garbage of newly annexed residents for the next 7 years.   The JIPSD will continue to gain the money they would receive for providing the service for a time, but will not actually have to incur the costs of providing the service.   The financial benefit for the District in the short run is obvious.   

Of course, we all know that there are people who have annexed to the City of Charleston in order to get a free garbage can.   And the JIPSD has budgeted money to purchase garbage cans for all of the residents.   They have also budgeted funds to retrofit the garbage trucks to pick up the new large cans.

The shift to once a week service is supposed to save $370,000 per year.    If those cost savings were passed on to the taxpayer, the result would be a 7% reduction in our bills from the JIPSD.   For a homeowner, that would be about a 3% reduction in property taxes overall.

First of all, the JIPSD has not come close to seeking enough public input about this change.   All of us, including the 2/3 of District residents who are in the Town of James Island, need to be aware of this change and let the Commissioners know what we think.

Should we keep it the same for now?  

Or should we move rapidly to once a week service?

If we do go to once a week service, either now or in the future, I believe that the taxpayer should share in the cost saving.    Perhaps a fair compromise would be to share the cost savings half and half.   That would allow for a two mil tax cut (approximately 4% of the JIPSD charge.)   

At the very least, the JISPD could reverse the one mil tax hike (approximately 2% of  the JIPSD charge,) that it imposed last year.