Burgin City Council Renews Rumpke Agreement, Approves Staff Raises
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Robert Moore
Herald Staff
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The Burgin City Council renewed their agreement with Rumpke for garbage collection and also approved raises for city employees.
At a special-called meeting on Monday, July 14, the city council approved renewing the franchise agreement with Rumpke with the option to renew after three years.
Under the agreement, the garbage collection rate will go from $21.50 a month to $22 a month, with seniors paying a discounted rate of $19.50 a month. The rate increase goes into effect Aug. 1, according to paperwork made available by the city.
Under the second option offered by Rumpke, the rate would have increased to $23.50 a month with a senior rate os $21 a month.
Under the new agreement, residents will be able to keep their current cans if they want. The other option presented to the council would have required residents to switch out their cans for 95 gallon ones.
People who want to keep their current cans should contact Burgin City Hall or Rumpke.
Seniors who can show they’re disabled can pay $19.50 and still get carry-out service, which costs $43 for anyone who is not disabled. Anyone who qualifies should contact city hall.
The agreement also allows every household to dispose of one large item per week.
“We just ask the residents to give us a call and schedule it,” said Frances Richie, a construction specialist at Rumpke who represented the company at the council meeting.
“We’d still like to see it cheaper,” said Burgin City Councilwoman Melinda Wofford. Wofford said many seniors are on fixed incomes.
“We try to do a 20 percent discount for the seniors,” Richie said. She said Rumpke factors in the cost for the whole city into their rate.
“We look at is as a whole, the number of stops, the amount of garbage and the number of employees,” Richie said.
Wofford also asked about recycling.
“That is something we could do,” Richie said. If the city wants to offer recycling, it would be put out to bid along with trash service.
Richie said the company could also put out a dumpster for citizens to drop off their recycling. The city council took no action on that option.
The three year contract contains with yearly escalators—incremental rate hikes. The residential rate will increase to $23 a month effective Aug. 1, 2027, and to $24 a month effective Aug. 1, 2028, according to the paperwork made available by the city. Richie said before the COVID pandemic, Rumpke offered five or seven year contracts, but when they were renewed, they often included bigger rate hikes. With shorter contracts and yearly price escalators, “It won’t be such a sticker shock,” Richie said.
Rumpke serves all of Mercer County except the City of Harrodsburg, which is served by Republic. The two companies are often the only bidders for trash collection. Wofford called the situation a monopoly.
“This is what they consider a franchise,” said Richie, who said residents of cities that do not have a franchise often pay rates of $30 a month.
The council voted to renew the agreement, with Wofford voting no and Councilman Sindicat “Sid” Dunn, who arrived late, abstaining.
The city council also approved raises for the city’s staff, with Assistant City Clerk/Water Clerk Britney Smith getting a nine percent raise, City Clerk and Treasurer Angela Stewart getting a five percent raise and Luis Ayala, who serves as the friendly little city’s public works department, getting a three percent raise.
The council voted to approve the raises with Councilman Travis Irvin voting no because he thought Ayala should get at least five percent as well.
The raises were included in Burgin’s new budget.
“We shouldn’t spend that amount of the taxpayers’ money on salaries,” Wofford said.
“We’re not going to find anyone else to do their job,” said Councilwoman Moran. “I feel like they deserve it.”
Moran noted the city was not paying any benefits for White. She said a teenager could make more stocking shelves.
“We’re not going to get somebody to walk in and do that job,” Moran said.
Councilman Dunn performing an annual evaluation before granting raises. Mayor Jamie Keebortz said the city has no personnel policies that would allow them to start performing evaluations.
Keebortz said White “could potentially go to Arby’s and give me curly fries and make better money” than what she was currently making.
Wofford said she receive complaints on the way citizens are treated at city hall.
City Clerk Angela Stewart said city hall still gets a lot of foot traffic, especially the elderly. Stewart said the staff have been threatened over water bills. She said she and the rest of the staff try to be respectful.
“We take a lot of stuff from people that you all don’t know about,” she said.
“There’s a lot of overtime,” Wofford said. “That kind of throws the budget out of whack to me.”
She asked about oversight.
Stewart said she and the rest of the staff had received approval for overtime from Mayor Joe Monroe.
At Monday’s meeting, the city council also tabled a job description for seasonal workers until they clarified the language.
They also approved a job description for a part-time water clerk substitute because a member of staff will be receiving medical treatment and be out of work 6 to 8 weeks.
