The Solid Waste Utility in Pleasant Prairie is operated as an "enterprise fund." It is called an enterprise fund, because it is operated like a business. Enterprise Funds receive income from: fees charged for services provided, loans, grants, the resale of capital equipment and donations. This income is then used to cover operating expenses, large capital purchases or improvements, and to pay down debt for the particular enterprise or area.
Pleasant Prairie uses the enterprise structure for its utilities to more fairly distribute the costs associated with the utilities to all who benefit from or have an impact on the enterprise. If the cost for operating these utilities was included on your property tax bill, smaller residential utility users could be paying the same as larger users, and residential users could be paying the bills for some very large utility users who are tax exempt (such as hospitals and the power plant). On November 19, the Village Board considered and passed the 2013 budget for the Solid Waste Utility.
SOLID WASTE UTILITY - WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2013
Solid Waste is the name of the utility that provides garbage, recycling, and leaf collection in addition to compost services for Village residents. As an enterprise fund, one of the ways the Solid Waste Utility covers the cost of providing services is by charging a fee for the services provided. During 2013, a small rate increase has been planned for the Solid Waste Utility in order to continue providing hazardous waste collection services for residents.
During 2012, the Village was notified that a State grant that covered the cost of this service for Kenosha County residents two times per year would be reduced by half. There would be no more State funds provided for a county-wide hazardous waste collection in Pleasant Prairie during the fall. In response, Village staff has developed a plan to provide this service for Village residents.
The plan includes training staff to collect hazardous waste materials and constructing a storage facility to handle the materials until they are disposed of. Initial plans indicate one hazardous waste collection day per month between April and December (see your December Village Newsletter to learn more about the new collection program).
To cover the cost of the new collection program, Solid Waste fees will increase by 50 cents per month. Staff investigated the cost of providing hazardous waste collection services in-house as opposed to hiring an outside collection contractor. It was more cost effective for the Village to provide the service in-house nine times per year than it would be to hire an outside contractor to provide the service for residents three times per year.