Questions remain over garbage pickup

BATAVIA, N.Y. (WIVB) - There's still a lot of questions about what will happen come June 1 in the City of Batavia.

That's when the city will officially get out of the garbage collection business and leave that job up to taxpayers. The city council held another public hearing Monday night on a proposed budget that would lower taxes 13 percent. But no one knows for sure how much it will cost each property owner to pay an outside vendor to pick up their trash.

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Donna Rae Sutherland commented, "Good governance means you need to help your people. And I don't think just dropping the ball and saying we're not going to do this anymore. That's like a kid saying I don't want to play in the sandbox anymore."

Batavia City Manager Jason Molino countered, "You know this is one of those services that is extremely costly and they (the council) felt this was the best way to go primarily because of the huge costs and the variety of different services that can be offered to residents."

The full city council will vote on a new budget and garbage plan in two weeks.