Trash Fee Showdown Monday Oct. 14 at City Council

Creve Coeur residents have enjoyed free garbage pickup for years but it may soon end if the City Council votes to charge a $180 a year fee.

The Creve Coeur City Council meets Monday October 14 at 7 p.m. and is expected to make public on October 17 trash fees for the first time in the city’s 64-year history.  

The council voted to charge residents three years ago but was rescinded when voters passed the no-fee trash pickup sales tax. 

Residents are protesting because they voted yes in 2010 for a sales tax dedicated to guarantee free full-service garbage pickup.

David Caldwell, editor of CreveCoeurVoter.com since 2007, has been warning residents how the city handles trash contracts. 

“I was there in 2011 when the City Council voted to extend the contract with Allied Waste through June 2014 without a competitive bid,” Caldwell said. “I’m here now fighting against this unnecessary fee.” 

Senior citizens face physical injury if the city changes the rules and forced them to tote heavy garbage bins to the curb.

Scott Simon, a resident who is a long-time government and policy analyst, points out the city’s offer to seniors to get a waiver with a note from their doctor for medical reasons for continued full-service garbage pickup is illegal and insulting. 

“The federal HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) law makes it’s illegal for Creve Coeur government to require people to disclose any medical information,” Simon said. “The law is specific that only the federal government can ask people for medical information and records and it’s limited to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security disability, and workman compensation claims.” 

Creve Coeur Ward 3 Councilman Robert Hoffman, a medical doctor, told other council members and staff at its Sept. 23 meeting that it’s not easy for people to get a doctor’s note. 

“Telling seniors they need to apply for a waiver to get full-service trash pickup is treating them like bad grade school students who need a note from the principal to get back into class,” Simon said. 

Caldwell, who also is a member of the city’s Employee Pension Fund Board of Trustees, certifies the city is financially sound and doesn’t need to be asking residents for cash.

“Creve Coeur government isn’t poor. Employees got a raise, the pension fund is stable, the debt service is being paid off ahead of schedule and at the end of the year, Creve Coeur has money left over. “That tax surplus is ours, not theirs. We want it spent on us what we want, not what they want. 

"I'm urging residents to let their Council representatives know they will not support their re-election if they pass this fee."

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