Columbus City Council last night approved the second year of a planned five-year contract with Rumpke for curbside recycling and yard waste pickup.
The contract is worth 8.7 million dollars, up 200 thousand from last year, and significantly more than when the programs were launched in 2012. Rumpke was the only bidder for a new five-year contract when it's first pact expired last year. It's bid was 45 million dollars, 50 percent higher than the 2012 deal. City officials have tried to find ways to cut costs without reducing services, but no savings have come about. Columbus Public Service director Jennifer Gallagher says the city is looking at other haulers as one way to save money. Another would be to boost participation.
The city says Columbus residents pay one-dollar-seventy-cents bi-weekly for the services, compared with two-dollars-twenty-cents in Cincinnati, and two-dollars-thirty-seven-cents per household in Bexley and Westerville. Gallagher says the programs have saved space at the county landfill.
Council also approved a 497 thousand dollar property tax abatement for a real estate holding company called KDL Properties and a furniture reupholstry firm to redevelop several parcels of land on South High Street, creating and retaining a total of 43 jobs.
