Macon mayor vetoes quarterly garbage billing ordinance, again

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – For the second time, Macon-Bibb County Mayor Robert Reichert vetoed the quarterly garbage billing ordinance.

Mayor Reichert expressed his decision Thursday in a letter to the county clerk, Janice Ross. He chose to veto the ordinance, commissioners approved August 17, which would have rescinded the annual garbage fee collection. Residents would have to pay $60 every quarter, as they did before.

In his letter, Mayor Reichert says the decision to go back to quarterly would cause problems at the tax commissioner’s office. The tax commissioner’s office already budgeted its plan to collect fees annually and making the switch back to the old system, would cost the county more than $130,000.

Mayor Reichert says that while he respects the commission’s decision, the county has not given it a year to try out the annual collection. He also states that the tax commissioner’s office has also shown that collection rates have gone up.

The county made the switch from quarterly to annually last year. Then, the commission voted to go back to quarterly, and the Mayor also vetoed that decision last August.

County residents will have to pay $240 for solid waste, up front when paying their property taxes this year.

Reichert also mentions the tax commissioner works with residents who cannot pay the money up front.

You can read the letter from the Mayor by clicking here.