The Lafayette County Board of Supervisors voted Monday morning to raise the monthly rate for trash collection for county residents from $12 to $20.

During a public hearing recently, several residents objected to the raise. They made some valid points.

The county did what it was legally required to do – advertise the proposed raise in the local newspaper for three weeks. We recognize that not everyone is subscribed to the EAGLE, and many who are, don’t regularly read the legal notices.

There could have been more of an effort to alert the public. Some suggested it could have been included in their monthly bills or put on social media. 

While $8 doesn’t seem like a lot of money, for those living on a fixed income, it could be an inconvenience. 

However, there is no doubt that the price of everything has gone up and that an increase is needed. The rate has not increased in 10 years.

It should have. 

The county should have raised the rate over the last few years, doing $1 or $2 raises at a time. This current Board of Supervisors is taking the heat for what previous boards have failed to do in the last $10 years. 

Four of the sitting supervisors are first-year supervisors. They were forced to make up for the last decade of loss, using funds from the general county fund to cover those losses in the Solid Waste Department. The county’s cost to pick up trash is $19.80 per house a month. 

While the population in the county grows, so does the cost of collecting the garbage at every residence, covering more than 700 square miles.

Unfortunately, the time for a staggered, slow raise is past. County residents will see an increase in their Solid Waste bill starting Oct. 1.

If a resident can pay for a whole year in advance, and do so by Sept. 30, they can still get the $12 a month rate for the next 12 months.

The Board did what it needed to do to be fiscally responsible. Perhaps next time, they will understand the need to give folks a little more time to make their own budget adjustments.