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As of November 1st, households and businesses will be charged a Garbage Collection Fee. The fee is charged to compensate for the collection and processing of all the garbage on the island. It is in line with the Island Ordinance passed by Island Council in the meeting of October 3rd, 2014.
The Garbage Fee will be collected by Saba Electric Company on behalf of the Island Government and will be part of their monthly statements as of November. The monthly fee is $9.00 for households and $20.00 for businesses. Saba Electric has already provided a digital copy of a letter from the Executive Council to its subscribers.
The Garbage Fee has been part of the budget since 2007 and the government has been urged on several occasions to implement the fee by the CFT and their own auditor. In January of 2012 the fee was implemented but was abandoned due to administrative issues.
The fee is not intended to cover the entire cost of garbage collection and covers just a small part of the cost to collect and process garbage. The total estimated income from the fee is budgeted at $110,000 while total expenses for the Sanitation Department is $992,998 this includes sweeping of roads, garbage collection and landfill activities. This does not take into account so the over 1 million dollar investment being undertaken at the landfill of course mean higher operating costs.
The Executive Council has made every effort to ensure that everyone is billed correctly but is aware that there might be some problems with the implementation. Persons with any problems are urged to contact the Executive Council so that the issues can be resolved in a timely manner.