Trash Franchising Won't Happen This Year in Wichita

May 26, 2010

by Kim Hynes (WICHITA, Kan.)

Three million dollars short, that's the budget deficit the City of Wichita faces for this year. Part of the shortfall is because the city counted on new revenue from trash franchising, a system that's supposed to save you money. "That process has turned out to take a lot longer than we anticipated," said city manager Bob Layton.

Layton says the hiring freeze at city hall made it difficult to create a system where everyone pays the same price and everyone on your block uses the same hauler. "We've been caught up in the crunch with staff and the fact we have limited staff to work on that project," he said.

But the city counted on making $1 million from franchising this year. Money it will have to make up in other ways to balance the budget. Layton says they're still looking at how to cover the deficit.

"I'm not surprised, I figured it would take awhile. They thought they could come in, do it in a year and be done. It's a two to three year process as big as the city of Wichita," said David Lies. Lies owns Lies Trash and is the president of Wichita's independent hauler's association. He says they're not opposed to franchising as long as none of the independents are put out of business.

Lies says the biggest issue is the cost of tipping fees at the transfer station. He says they pay $55 for every ton of trash dropped off and that's reflected in your bill. He says if the city can regulate the tipping fees, trash bills will go down.

Layton says he knew it was going to be a difficult process, but didn't expect trash franchising to take this long. He expects it to happen in the next year, as long as residents save money and trash hauler's are happy.

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