More Panola Countians are paying their monthly garbage bills to the tune of $123,000 over last year’s numbers.
Solid Waste manager Dean Joiner and clerk Jennifer Jackson announced the improved collections at the county supervisors’ "second Monday" meeting on Monday, May 9.
Joiner said the December 2004 to April 2005 collections totaled $123,914.96 over collections from the previous ’03 to ’04 dates.
As of April, the total collections to date are $435,905.70 compared to $311,990.74 from April 2004, according to figures provided by Solid Waste.
Jackson credited the increased collections to the "flagging" of car tags by the Solid Waste department through the tax collector’s office. That practice started in December, she said.
"We get a list each month of whose tag is coming up for renewal, and we compare those names and addresses with our list of Solid Waste accounts," Jackson explained. "When (customers) get flagged at the tax collector’s office, they send them down here to us."
A collection agency, Quick Collect, is also recovering some funds, but the tag flagging has brought in the most overdue funds, Jackson said.
Panola County residents pay $11 a month for weekly garbage pickup.
On a related topic, county supervisors opened bids for two new garbage trucks and trade-ins on four trucks at the Monday meeting.
Supervisors took the bids under advisement.
The prices ranged from $106,872 to $120,452 for new trucks and $35,000 to $55,000 for each trade-in.
After the meeting, Joiner noted the lowest bid for a new truck didn’t include a trade-in allowance. The highest bid also included the highest trade-in, $55,000, he said.
Joiner told The Panolian the Solid Waste department began replacing its fleet of four trucks with two new trucks in November and will replace the other two trucks with the upcoming purchase.
