When the City Council passed our laundry list of fees late last year, I was hesitant to support just one of the literally hundreds we approved: the junk dealer fee.
Why? The size of the increase. The annual fee, to go into effect July 1, was to go from $150 to $1,000 under the fee schedule we approved.
I voted to approve the fee schedule because I didn’t want to hold up the entire schedule over one fee. But I remained uncomfortable with it. It was simply too much.
Well, the Legislation & Permits Committee is thankfully revisiting that fee at our meeting on Monday night, and I hope we can lessen the increase.
I understand there have been concerns raised with junk dealers and their business practices, from how they secure their loads to how they dispose of Freon-bearing appliances to the dealers taking items that would have real recycling value had the city picked them up.
But raising the fee by as much as we did is not the answer to dealing with the issue. If we have concerns with junk dealers, then let’s talk about a stronger ordinance to regulate them. Let’s not “fee them” out of existence. A $1,000 annual fee would probably do that.
I’ll keep you posted.
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