Why I Favor the Trash Fee

I know I said last week I was pretty much against it, but (with a few caveats), I've come around to the trash fee. Here's why:

In short, somebody has to do something.

For too long, we've complained about what's wrong with the city. The schools stink. The roads don't get plowed. The library is being cut back. Police officers aren't getting raises and are being laid off. The sidewalks aren't disabled-friendly. We complain, we vote, but we don't make changes.

While it's not anyone's idea of a perfect solution, it's a chance to start making those changes. In the Police Department, the change would be real and immediate, with officers left on the street. Other areas of the city would be bolstered.

If you have a couple of days (weeks), you can find long-time commenters on this site who oppose the trash fee talking about the faults in city services. I intentionally mentioned two of them above. This is a time to start to putting it back together. It's time to stop complaining and do something.

How did I come to this decision? I was thinking about the school budget, and the terrible job the city does funding the School Department. About 90 percent of the schools is state-funded. Wouldn't be good if we could put more money in the schools, create a better school system, and create something that would make the city better, make it more attractive, make one more thing to be proud of? Instead of admiring Andre Ravenelle's bailing-wire-and-bubble-gum approach, why not give him the tools to make an A-1 system?

But that desire to improve the School Department can be extended to a lot of city services. It's a desire to do better that we all have to embrace.

Here are the caveats: There needs to a promise/language that freezes the fees for 10 years. I'd be willing to consider five. There needs to be a promise that there will be no other new fees created. It would be disingenuous to use this as a doorway to other fees or bigger trash fees in the near future.

I know this trash fee isn't a savior, but it is a helping hand to the city that needs all the help it can get. I'm not a legal scholar, but it isn't unconstitutional or illegal. Otherwise 129-odd communities wouldn't have one already. Is it a financial run-around? There is an argument for that. But sometimes the decisions aren't that attractive.

We talk about political officials making "tough choices," but now it's time for us to make a tough choice. Fewer cops and firefighters, or fewer bucks. I'm voting for the cops. It all comes down to that questions: More services, or more bucks.

I figure, even with the annual fee, I'm looking at $200 a year, tops. That's at a trash bag a week, which seems easily doable based on current Save Fitchburg Mansion trash usage. That's just under $17 a month.

This site is littered with the complaints and the comments about things that don't work right in the city. Next year's budget isn't going to make things any better. The goal, always, is to make things better. To go back to the top of the page, to Save Fitchburg. So, I'm on board.

I know this won't change any minds, and I know this is going to set off a firestorm like none other. I'm trying to do the first, and while I don't welcome the latter, that's OK.

There was a lot of talk last year about taking back the city. It's time to extend that responsibility a little bit more. We're all in this together, even when the times suck and the decisions suck even harder. But it's time to suck it up, and I'm ready to do my little bit.