othercities


.		Houston Current	Houston Proposed	Fort Worth	Austin	Dallas	San Antonio	El Paso
.	Population	2,016,582	2,016,582	624,067	690,252	1,213,825	1,256,509	598,590
.	Units Served	456,000	456,000	185,771	166,000	250,000	308,000	156,000
.	Finance Method	General Fund	Environ. & Gen. Funds	Pay-As-You-Throw	Pay-As-You-Throw	Flat Fee	Flat Fee	Flat Fee
.	Current Tax Rate	0.645	0.645	0.86	0.4126	0.7292	0.5785	0.6723
.	Basic Service Frequency	Once per week	Once per week	Once per week	Once per week	Twice per week	Twice per week for manual; once for automated	Once per week
.	Container Method and Pricing	Automated rolling containers	Automated rolling containers	$12.75 for a 32-gallon size garbage cart; $17.75 for 64-gallon size; $22.75 for 96-gallon (tax then added; extra bags $15 for 5; all fees added to water bill)	$11.75 for 30-gallon cart; $14.50 for 60-gallon cart; $17.25 for 90-gallon cart. $2 sticker for bags for extra garbage; (tax and $2.60 anti-litter fee added; water, electricity, and garbage service combined into monthly bill)	Flat sanitation fee of $19.36 added monthly to water bill; garbage collected in 90-gallon carts	$15.99 fee (includes $2.53 brush fee and $1.30 environmental service fee) included on electric bill; customers use their own 32-gallon containers but are transitioning to 96-gallon automated service	$16, including new $1 envir. fee, a month fee plus tax; one 96-gallon container provided; $10 (plus tax) for additional containers; fees included on water bill; new commercial environmental fee is $5
.	Recycling	Curbside recycling collection every other week for 162,000 residences from bins; three neighborhood depositories	Curbside recycling collection every other week for 162,000 residences from bins with gradual increase in number of residences; four neighborhood depositories	Curbside once per week; same day as garbage collection; all customers receive blue 64-gallon recycling cart for commingled paper, glass, plastics, and metals; two depositories	Once per week; some collected on different day than garbage; customers receive recycling bins; City is piloting a single-stream, every-other week recycling system using 60-gallon carts for citywide implementation in 2008; 32.4% increase in recycling with the single-stream method	Once per week; curbside recycling is commingled in blue plastic bags or residents can register and receive 96-gallon recycling carts	Once per week; customers use 18-gallon green recycling bins but are transitioning to automated single-stream	Paper, plastic, and metals can be dropped off at Citizen Collection Centers; curbside commingled automated collection to begin April, 2007
.	Yard Clippings	Collected weekly; clippings must be in bags; currently only minimal amounts composted	Work towards full composting; investigate various methods	Option of purchasing special 30-gallon paper bags that degrade with the clippings (available at Home Depot for $2.50 for 5) or a $75 96-gallon cart; no extra fee for weekly collection; two depositories; free mulch available at depositories; Compost Outpost educational facility	Grass, leaves, and small branches collected weekly with recycling and must be in ordinary paper bags or reusable containers; large brush picked up on specially-scheduled brush collection days; city makes it all into "Dillo Dirt" to use and sell	Only collected during 30-day scalping season (mid-March to mid-April); customer may take to landfill or transfer stations rest of year, no fee; website indicates some may be composted; compost given away when available	Customers urged to leave clippings on the grass; blade trade program; city brush recycling center where mulch is made and sold and customers can drop off leaves, yard clippings and brush for a fee; leaves and yard clippings are only collected for composting during oak leaf season, otherwise leaves and yard clippings collected curbside are taken to the landfill	On call; collected at curb and charged by size; $32.48 minimum for up to 5 cubic yards rising to $334.49 for 50 cubic yards; treated as heavy trash(fee amounts raised this year)
.	Heavy Trash	Once per month; up to 40 cubic yards or two department truck loads per unit per collection day	Eventual goal twice per year on call; transition longer in abused neighborhoods paired with additional enforcement	Ten cubic yards once per month included with any level of service; if more is left out or any is contaminated extra $10 administrative fee and $65 per five cubic yards excess; two depositories	Twice per year; schedule not published online to prevent illegal dumping but notices mailed in advance; do on call for a fee, $55 for two items, then price increases	"Brush and Bulky" pick-up once per month; total amount limited to size of a small sofa; on call starting at $75 (estimate given first)	Brush and bulky items collected twice per year; if small and bundled, brush will be collected on regular garbage day in the manual areas and is taken to landfill; automated may put yard clippings in garbage can	On call; collected at curb and charged by item size; $32.48 minimum for up to 5 cubic yards rising to $334.49 for 50 cubic yards (fee amounts raised this year)
.	Private Street Collection	Not per the Code; some units served even though not eligible	No collection from private streets; change in criteria for eligibility for service allows for collection from a public street of containers from some units without public street abutment	Yes, but the streets must conform to the City of Fort Worth's standards. City has had difficulty recently with damage to streets but has held developer/residents responsible for costs. City is considering liability waivers and will probably implement in the near future.	Owners/residents of private streets have a choice. If they want the City's solid waste service, the owner(s) of the street must sign a liability waiver. If they refuse to sign, they must find a private contractor. (Apparently this is somewhat of a "tracking nightmare" for the City.)	It all depends on the residence itself. The City serves all single-family homes up to 4-family unit residences. If a street (or gated community) does not want the sanitation trucks on the street, the City arranges for a container/dumpster just outside the street that the residents can use.	Yes. Liability waiver required.	No. El Paso policy says the City does not serve private streets, but some private streets (that meet El Paso street standards) have been declared public domain and are then served.
.	Terminate Utility Service if Delinquent	N/A	To be determined	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
.	Additional Information			Formerly $13.75 flat fee for unlimited amounts of trash and recycling in bins. With the change to PAYT, recycling has risen from 6% to 20%. PAYT fees raised $1.30 for every can size in past year.	Pay-As-You-Throw reduced Austin's garbage by 10%		Fee raised $2 this year
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