OCEAN CITY—It will soon cost more for residents of the resort to have bulk items collected by the city after town officials this week approved an increase in the bulk pickup fees.
Resort residents currently can call the city’s public works department to pick up discarded items such as old furniture, appliances or even large tree trimmings, for example, for a modest fee. There are also private sector business that offer the same service, but the price is often higher than what the city charges.
To that end, the Mayor and Council had before them on Tuesday a request to increase the bulk pickup fees that had not been changed in nearly a decade. The request, ultimately approved by the council, would increase the fee for single item to be picked up to $40. The cost would be $75 for up to three items, and another $10 for each additional item over three. Deputy Public Works Director Woody Vickers explained the reason for the proposed hike in bulk pickup fees.
“The current bulk pickup fees were last updated in May 2013,” he said. “This fee schedule is not structured to cover cost, but simply set to balance our fees versus private industry fees. By balancing these fees, we avoid residents dumping an item on the street in the middle of the night.”
Vickers explained the town’s solid waste department was currently trying to handle a large backlog in scheduled bulk item pickups.
“Our current bulk pickup schedule has an approximate wait time of two-and-half weeks due to the volume of requests,” he said. “Our increase in bulk pickup is mostly due to the increase in private industry fees and, in some cases, the elimination of these services by private industry. That’s why we need to update our bulk collection fees to rebalance the fees.”
Councilman Mark Paddack questioned the prolonged wait time to have bulk items picked up by the city.
“I believe you said two-and-a-half weeks,” he said. “In the height of summer, I know people put stuff out there on the sidewalk and it makes the town look trashy sometimes.”
Mayor Rick Meehan clarified the bulk pickup program is for residential uses only.
“This is just for residential uses,” he said. “It’s not for commercial properties. Do we ever find commercial properties making calls for bulk pickup?
Vickers explained that does happen quite frequently. Meehan explained the genesis of the town’s bulk pickup policy.
“I know the reason we initiated this program a long time ago was so we wouldn’t have articles discarded in empty lots or on the streets or in other places,” he said. “It’s concerning that you have to wait sometimes two-and-a-half weeks, but I can where you guys have your hands full.”
Meehan said he hoped the modest increase would not discourage people from using the program and simply discarding items elsewhere.
“Hopefully, this will encourage people not to just discard things,” he said. “If they do discard things on an empty lot and you get a call to pick them up, you do bill that lot owner correct? It’s not always fair to the lot owner, but it has to be billed somehow.”
Vickers said the department is well aware of known trouble areas around the city where people tend to dump bulk items without using the service.
“Even with the rates where they are now, we can tell you there are some hotspots,” he said. “We know where they are, and we make sure we get out there and pick it up. We address that.”
Meehan said even with the cost increase for utilizing the service, it still represented a good bargain for those who need to get rid of bulking items.
“It is a great service for the people of Ocean City,” he said. “The cost is the cost.”
