GARBAGE MAY BE HOT ITEM IN BLACKSBURG BUDGET

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 29, 1992                   TAG: 9202290216
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
GARBAGE MAY BE HOT ITEM IN BLACKSBURG BUDGET
It looks like garbage could once again take top billing when Town Council reviews next year's budget options.
Town Manager Ron Secrist on Friday released his recommended $9.15 million budget for 1992-93. It includes a plan to start charging for curbside garbage collection by weight.
"The key there is to be an incentive" for people to recycle more, Secrist said.
Residents with garbage collection service would get 48 stickers a year, each to be attached to a bag of no more than 25 pounds of garbage.
Bags without stickers would not get picked up. Extra stickers would cost $3 each.
The town has one of the first curbside recycling programs in Southwest Virginia, and charges $16.96 every other month for recycling and garbage pickup.
Last year, when Montgomery County raised its landfill user fees to $26 per ton, the town cut back to once-a-week garbage pickup to avoid raising its fees.
This year, the county likely will raise the cost to $39.50 per ton. Secrist said that will force the town to raise residential bills to $25.52 every two months.
That fee would go into effect in July, along with the entire operation budget. But if residents and Town Council decide to go with the alternative, volume-based collection system, residential bills could drop to $21.22 each two months, Secrist said.
He also recommends that paper goods - such as food packaging and magazines - be added to the recycling program, as well as yard waste (excluding grass clippings). That will make the stickers program more viable, because household trash will be reduced to mostly food waste, he said.
He is recommending that the program not begin until October because it will take some time to educate people about how it would work.
"We will show people what 25 pounds is," he said. "It might be two of those Glad bags," or one trash can full. The idea is to encourage people to recycle, cut down on costs, and save precious - almost priceless - landfill space, he said.
Also in his recommended budget is creation of a horticulture division to maintain the landscaping projects on public property, such as street medians, and an indoor aquatics program.
The swimming pool on Patrick Henry Drive should open this fall, he said. It will cost about $155,500 the first year and make about $104,000 from membership fees. A year's membership for adults is $150, for seniors and children $125.
Secrist's proposal maintains all services at their current level without raising property taxes, Secrist said. He is proposing an increase in the meals tax from 3 percent to 4 percent to pay for street repairs and other essential work.
Overall revenue grew about 10 percent, mostly because of a proposed $1 million general obligation bond. Income from the state dropped 4 percent, about $71,600.
Only one part-time position will be dropped, keeping the number of town workers almost level, with 192 full-time and 118 part-time employees.
Secrist is recommending an across-the-board pay increase for employees of 1.5 percent, as well as performance bonuses.
He will present the budget to Town Council March 10, and a public hearing will be scheduled for April 14.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB