by Councilman Grayson Boucher
I have been thinking about and studying the funding of Shreveport’s Solid Waste Division for several months. With the recent late pickups, it appears the chickens are coming home to roost.
Let me be clear: this is not criticism of our sanitation workers. These men and women work extremely hard—often for long hours, in extreme heat and cold, and in dirty, physically demanding and sometimes dangerous conditions. They deserve our appreciation, competitive pay, dependable equipment and adequate staffing.
This problem did not develop overnight. It has been brewing for some time. Shreveport faced similar collection problems beginning in December 2018, when a shortage of drivers contributed to garbage being left uncollected for weeks.
The City Council sometimes does not learn the full extent of an operational problem until it has become a crisis and residents are already being affected. Under our form of government, the mayor and Chief Administrative Officer are responsible for the day-to-day management of city departments. The Council approves funding and policy, but it does not hire sanitation workers, assign routes, maintain trucks or manage daily operations.
The comparison with Bossier City is especially important:
* Shreveport charges $7 per month, or $84 per year, for garbage collection.
* Bossier City charges $24 per month, or $288 per year.
* That is a difference of $17 per month—or $204 per household each year.
It would be easy to assume Shreveport’s lower fee is balanced by higher taxes, but that is not the case. Bossier City’s combined sales-tax rate is approximately 10%, compared with approximately 9.6% in Shreveport, while the overall residential property-tax burdens are broadly comparable.
Shreveport residents are not paying a lower garbage fee because they are paying substantially higher taxes elsewhere. We are charging far less for the service while asking the Solid Waste Division to compete for qualified CDL drivers, maintain specialized trucks and provide dependable collection.
This post is for informational purposes only. I am not presenting a predetermined solution. We need to fully explore the available remedies. Is the answer a modest increase in the monthly solid-waste fee? Should the city seek competitive bids to determine whether privatization could provide dependable service at a reasonable cost? Could operational changes, better equipment and competitive wages allow the city to continue providing the service efficiently?
The question is broad, and the consequences of getting it wrong are significant. Any proposal must compare total costs, service frequency, employee impacts, bulk and limb collection, accountability, performance guarantees and protection against future rate increases.
This must become a top priority for the next mayor. Our employees deserve the resources to do their jobs, and our citizens deserve reliable garbage collection.
