DeKalb County may limit trash pickups to trim costs

DeKalb County residents may soon have their trash picked up only once a week to save money.

Unless garbage collections are reduced from twice a week, residents would likely face a fee increase from the current $268 per year.

Interim DeKalb CEO Lee May suggested single-day garbage collection as part of his proposed 2015 budget, which must be approved by the DeKalb Board of Commissioners by the end of February.

"My proposed budget does not propose a fee increase, which assumes that the BOC will agree to a revised garbage collection schedule.  If the will of the people is to keep things as they are, the budget will have to be amended,” May said in a statement.

A test-run of single-day trash pickup last summer included 28,000 homes across the county.

Commissioner Kathie Gannon said a survey found that residents were "highly satisfied" with once-a-week trash collection.

"Based on the experience of the pilot program and previous community meetings and surveys, DeKalb will be moving to a one-day-per-week collection schedule, which is an industry standard, in the near future," Gannon wrote in an update for constituents. "Financial projections indicate that the county will need to increase sanitation fees unless we move to a once-per-week collection method."