The fees for garbage collection and curbside recycling are going up in East Moline. Tuesday night, the city council approved raising the monthly charges for both.
Finance Director, Annaka Whiting, says the garbage fee has been $7.35 per month, for three years, but the private contractor, Republic Services, is actually charging the city $10.58. So to make up the difference, the city will raise the fee by $1.10 each year for three years.
"So right now we're being charged $10.58 by Republic and we didn't want to increase it $3.00 to our users because we didn't think that was fair. So we want to do a general increase over the next three years to help offset those costs. "
The monthly recycling fee in East Moline will go up 15 cents, to $3.65 per month, and go up another 10 cents next year.
Whiting says the city is trying to cover the actual costs of these services by raising the fees. Otherwise property taxes would have to go up for residents and businesses.
