By William Holloman, staff writer Mount Olive Tribune

The contract for trash collection in the Town of Mount Olive will change for the upcoming fiscal year.  The best part? The change will save the Town approximately $151,000 annually and also provide added services.

The action came earlier this week during the Monday night routine monthly session of town commissioners. The change comes about at a time when officials are desperately searching for ways to ensure residents will not have to shoulder a property tax hike or see an increase in user fees. Currently, the Town’s waste collection contract is with Waste Industries of Goldsboro. The current fiscal year expense is $336,000, and town manager Charles Brown told board members on Monday night that expense is the single biggest one in the Town’s general fund operating budget. The five-year contract with Waste Industries ends on June 30, and on Monday night commissioners unanimously agreed not to renew it.

The contract with Waste Industries included an annual four percent increase. The four percent increase each year was passed on to users. Now that will change. The new contract, commissioners said, will go to Deep Run firm OCS, for $170,000. It is an immediate savings of $151,000. The new proposal does not include an annual percentage increase. It is a five-year contract commissioners will have to approve. No contract was approved on Monday night. That will come at a later date. The Town has to give Waste Industries a 60-day notification. Mayor Ray McDonald, Sr., said of the proposal from OCS, “I don’t see how this board can turn this down, particularly at a time when we are trying to find ways to save money.”  He added, “We got locked into a contract a few years ago that just got too expensive.” The Town was looking at two options: either get back into the trash collection business itself or find a cheaper provider. The service with Waste Industries provided once a week trash pickup of rollout cart service only. The proposal from the Deep Run firm provides that and additional services. The firm will provide the Town with recycling pickup service for $25,000. Free services that will be provided include providing canisters and open top containers that will be placed at the Talton Drive trash collection site, the Mount Olive Municipal Airport, Churches in Action on Center Street, and at Daughtry Field. Canister and open top container service is an expense of $15,000 that will be given to the Town at no charge.

The firm will also provide the Town with a shredder truck once a year to shed unneeded documents. Town manager Brown declined to comment when asked about the growing expense of trash collection. He did tell the Tribune, “I tend to always look forward; I don’t look backwards.” He added, “This gives us the opportunity at the very minimum to make sure there will be no increase for the next five years in our waste collection service.” Brown said it will mark the first time in five years that residents will not be looking at an increase. The $151,000 savings provides town officials wrestling with a new budget some breathing room. Brown said, “Now we can balance our general fund budget without having to look at tax or user fee increases.” He told the Tribune, “In a very difficult budget year and in a very difficult economy it is certainly an opportunity for us.”