Residents will see separate water and garbage bills; garbage will be billed bi-monthly

WAITSBURG—Effective May 1, Waitsburg residents will no longer see solid waste disposal services on their city utility bills. At its April 17 meeting, the Waitsburg City Council approved a contract with Basin Disposal Services, Inc. (BDI) to take over garbage service billing.

For residents, the change means that they will now receive a separate bill for garbage services, which will be billed bi-monthly, rather than monthly. They will also see a 3-cent increase in their monthly garbage bill.

The decision to transfer billing services from the City to BDI was made in a 3-2 council vote at the Jan. 16 council meeting with council members Terry Jacoy and Kate Hockersmith opposed.

The change was made in order to relieve the City from billing duties and eliminate it as the middleman between BDI and the City. Hinchliffe previously told the council that the state auditor is requiring different accounting methods that would require more labor on the part of the City for billing.