Rate remains same for 4 more years
By John Faucher
The Hortonville Village Board approved extending its garbage collection contract with Harter’s Fox Valley Disposal.
Village Administrator David DeTroye told board members on Jan. 17 that the current contract with Harter’s, signed in 2014, was coming to an end.
Under that contract, DeTroye said the village initially paid Harter’s $8.31 per residence per month, with an agreement that the fee would not increase more than 3 percent annually for five years.
“It has not exceeded that 3-percent benchmark,” DeTroye said.
The village is currently billed $9.22 per residence per month. There are 1,044 residences served in Hortonville.
The village collects $10 per month through an annual $120 fee to residential property owners using the service.
DeTroye asked board members if they were interested in going out for proposals, or if they favored an extension. He noted that it’s a larger contract and the village writes a check to Harter’s for approximately $10,000 per month.
“Knowing that the contract was coming to an end, we set up a meeting with the Harter’s representative and asked for an extension,” DeTroye said.
“He gave us the starting point of $8.50 per residence starting in 2020, again not to go past 3 percent annually for an increase. If we got to year five, it would be at $9.84 per residence.”
DeTroye said if the village accepted the contract extension it could change its assessment levels in the future.
“So essentially we’re buying four or five more years and we’d be paying approximately the same amount we are right now until about 2023,” DeTroye said.
“We would be doing ourselves good for about four more years before we’d have to make a change. It’s at your discretion if you want to send this out for another look from other providers, or if we want to just accept the contract extension.”
Harter’s provides the canisters and if the village changed providers it would have to assess each of the homes for a new canister.
Hortonville Public Works Director Carl McCrary said, “I think if we went with [a request for proposal] for a new contract we would be rolling the dice. It could come in a lot higher.”
Board members said Harter’s service has been good and the company is responsive to customers.
Trustee Dawn Vollbrecht made a motion to authorize and sign the contract extension with Harter’s.
Julie Arendt Vanden Heuvel seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. Trustees Peter Olk and Kelly Schleif were excused from the meeting.