By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
Later this year, the village of North Syracuse will be switching to automated trash collection. The Village Board of Trustees voted at its May 24 meeting to approve a five-year contract with Syracuse Haulers. Manual collection will continue until the village has educated residents about the change and then the transition will occur in the fall.
The board awarded the contract May 10 to Syracuse Haulers, which was the low bidder. The higher bidder was Feher Rubbish, which abruptly went out of business earlier this month. The board opted to wait until the May 24 meeting to decide between manual and automated trash collection.
Mayor Gary Butterfield said the village had budgeted $420,000 for trash collection. Syracuse Haulers’ offer for manual collection was $393,719.52 per year for a three-year agreement with the option of two one-year extensions. Each extension year was listed as $393,719.52, but Village Attorney Scott Chatfield said the price could be variable for the fourth and fifth years.
As for automated collection, Syracuse Haulers’ bid listed a price of $188 per unit per year. The automated bid did not indicate the possibility of a price increase after a certain number of years, as the conventional bid did.
There are 2,344 units or households in the village, so the annual total for automated collection would be $440,672.
While this is higher than the village’s $420,000 budgeted amount, Butterfield said transitioning from manual to automated collection over the summer allows the village to prorate the amount to fit within that budget.
“By delaying the implementation, we can save enough money to meet or come near the budget this year,” he said.
Chatfield said the consistent unit price per year could give the village more room to negotiate future trash bids.
“If you go with a longer-term contract on the automated collection, whenever it comes due to re-bid … the current hauler will be in a significantly advantageous position compared to its competitors,” he said.
At the May 10 meeting, Syracuse Haulers owner Rocky Grosso listed several advantages to automated trash collection, including keeping trash safe from wildlife and the elements, single-stream recycling and placing the responsibility for maintaining trash containers on the hauler, not the resident.
